The Impossible Girl
by DaggersOfEmotion
Summary: Jess grew up in a world of bitterly fictional magic, which suddenly becomes very real and hostile and her mum is taken hostage. She enlists the Doctor for help and together they embark on an adventure to save the most brilliant author of the 21st century and reality itself, JK Rowling. When Jess finds herself without a home, the Doctor takes her in as his lonely companion.
1. The Incursion of Magic

Hi, my name is Jessica Rowling. Name sound familiar? You've probably heard of my mom, Joanne Rowling, although she's better known under her alias, JK Rowling. I always thought it was silly that she had to have an alias to get readers. Personally, I think she could have been just as famous without it. She doesn't need to pretend she's a man in order for people to read her books, it's the 21st century! Well, almost, it was, er- will be? I can't keep track any more.

Anyway, please call me by my real name. Actually, scratch that last, I prefer Jess. Now that that's established, I guess I should explain why i'm doing this. You see, my mother has always been very imaginative, but she always kept that for her stories. Me, I like living in adventure and mystery. I have never really been much of a writer, i'd rather live it than tell it. It's not until now that I finally understand why my mother felt so compelled to share her stories, for I have starred in my own miraculous adventure, one too impossible to keep to myself. Those of you who are reading this have probably heard stories, most of them fiction, but I assure you, this one is written by someone who actually experienced it. The incursion of magical disturbances. Or, to put it simply, the Invasion of Magic.

Yeah, it sounds crazy, but it's true. I'm not just a kid who grew up with too much Harry Potter (like that's possible) or have some mental condition. I assure you, I am completely sane and normal. Just a normal teenage girl living in the UK. What happened, what i'm about to tell you, actually happened. It's real- and so is The Doctor.

Now you're lost, yeah? Who the bloody hell is "The Doctor"? Her psychiatrist? No. He's a man. More than a man, really. He's the most spectacular person i've ever met. He's enthusiastic, melancholy, merciful, protective, nimble, clever, lonely and, most of all, kind. He's also quite tall and handsome. "Foxy" as I like to put it. He always wore a tan overcoat and trainers, no matter what the conditions are. He's wear them to a wedding, even- never mind, i'm going off on a tangent.

So I was headed to The Elephant House with mum when a reporter caught onto us. This was pretty normal, considering she's a famous author, but this woman was by herself. She wasn't much of a threat, just a spindly blonde woman with an annoying voice.

"What are you going to write after Harry Potter?" she asked, pen in bony hand. It was easy not to retort, I had gotten used to it. Reporters were just house flies bussing around my head. If you swat them, they'll just come back, so all you can do is adapt and ignore.

Suddenly, my vision went blurry and, before my eyes, men in dark cloaks appeared. My hand was on mum's arm as I tried to steady myself, feeling a bit lightheaded. Mum's body was suddenly tense and unmoving, as if frozen.

"Mum?" I asked, moving to see her face. Her eyes stared blankly forward without recognition. "Mum, can you hear me? What's going on?" As I struggled to get her attention, the men closed in. I was forced to give them my full attention and realized they were wearing menacing masks similar to death eaters from mum's books. Exactly like them, actually.

"Who are you? What do you want?" I demanded, standing in front of my mum protectively.

"That's none of your concern," the reporter said astutely. She was beginning to remind me of Rita Skeeter. "It would be to your benefit if you left peacefully."

"Why?" I retorted.

"Because you won't have much of a future ahead of you if you stay." I was wrong, she was much more similar to Umbridge.

"Fine," I said, deciding to leave them and their weird cult to their own agenda. I began to move, but realized my mum wasn't following. "Come on, mum, we have to go."

"Oh, she won't be joining you," the woman said, a sly grin on her face. It was then that I realized what was happening. Before I could move toward mum, the men raised their arms. I ducked as flashed of light emitted from their hands. Their attacks forced me to run outside, leaving my mum inside with them.

I stood with my back against the wall to the cafe, breathing heavily as I took in what had just happened. My mum was now hostage to some sort of evil cult organized around her and her books. Crazy obsessed fans, no doubt. Still, that doesn't explain how they managed to create those lights. Lazers, maybe? No, there were definitely wands in their hands. Somehow they had manufactured a new kind of weapon. I need reinforcements.

Luckily, there was a police telephone box right across the street. I ran toward it and was about to open the door, when it suddenly opened before me. I went blasting in, running straight into the man who was on his way out.

"Hello!" he said enthusiastically, as if I hadn't just assaulted him. It took me a moment to realize I was laying on top of him. When I did, I did the only logical thing and scrambled to my feet. Of course, I managed to do it in the most awkward way possible.

"I'm sorry! I'm so sorry!" I said, offering him a hand. As I did so, I realized where I was. It was no ordinary police telephone box.

"That's alright, i've been through worse," he laughed it off, dusting his coat off. "What's your hurry?"

"It's my mum... she's been... taken hostage," I wasn't sure how else to put it, but my new surroundings were slightly distracting. "This isn't a police telephone box, is it?"

"Well..." he said, clearly having a long explanation. I decided to find out for myself.

"It's smaller on the outside!"

"Well, that's a first." He replied, pleasantly surprised.

"Is it some sort of optical illusion? Are you some sort of government agent?" I asked, roaming my new environment. "What's this for?" I asked, coming to the central computer thing, running my hand over the buttons.

"Don't!" He he said, grabbing my hand. "You'd regret pushing that one."

"So are you going to tell me what this thing is or what?" I asked, moving on to other parts of the central computer thing.

"You wouldn't believe me if I told you," he insisted.

"How do you know what I will and won't believe? You have no idea what i'm capable of."

"Then why don't you show me? What's your name?" he challenged.

"If I tell you, will you tell me who you are? What this is?" I bartered.

"Cross my hearts," he replied sincerely.

"Jessica Rowling," I said, extending my hand.

"Oh yes! Brilliant! It's so nice to meet you!" he said, shaking my hand enthusiastically.

"Ahem?" I looked expectantly at him, waiting for my explanation.

"Oh, right, sorry. I'm the Doctor and this is the TARDIS. Time And Relative Dimensions In Space."

"Time and space... So it's a time machine?" he looked shocked that I had caught on without any denial. "Like I said, you have no idea what i'm capable of. I've seen things. Things you could never imagine."

"You have no idea," he chortled with a superior expression, like he's seen weirder things.

"So, if this is a time machine, what does that make you?"

"I'm sure you can work it out," he challenged.

"Well, you're not a wizard. That's obvious."

"What? I could be a wizard!" he said defensively.

"Oh really. Then where's your wand?" I crossed my arms sassily. To my surprise, he wasn't stumped. He actually pulled something out of his pocket.

"Lumos!" he said, pushing a button on the device, the end lighting up blue.

"That's not a wand," I said, snatching it from his hand. I squinted suspiciously, trying to figure out what it was made of. I bit it, discovering it was of high quality metal. I tossed it in the air to test the weight of it, catching it easily. Satisfied, I handed it back to the Doctor, who seemed to be having a heart attack. "You're an alien. This is clearly alien technology. This "TARDIS" is your spaceship. You appear human, but," I put my ear up to his chest to confirm my suspicions, "you have two hearts." I smirked as his jaw dropped, a grin forming across his face.

"Jessica Rowling," he said, looking more proud than my mum when she found out her book was accepted by a publisher. "You're so brilliant I could kiss you!"

"Thanks, but I think you're a bit old for me."

"907 years old, to be exact."

"Blimey," I whistled. "Yep, i'm definitely too young. Maybe in a couple centuries."

"So, about your mother-"

"Oh my god- I completely forgot!" I said, practically ripping out my hair. "What kind of daughter am I? My mother is kidnapped by death eaters and here I am chatting up a bloke 50 times my age!"

"Calm down, it happens to the best of us. Well..."

"Oh shut it, i'm dealing with a crisis here!" I snapped, running my hand through my hair as I paced back and forth.

"You know, i'm pretty good with a crisis."

"A doctor has no business with this kind of crisis."

"I'm not _a_ doctor. i'm _the_ Doctor."

"Do you have any experience fighting dark wizards?"

"No, but i've fought Daleks, Cybermen, The Great Intelligence, the Sycorax, Axos-"

"Ok, I get it, you can come," I sighed as he grinned excitedly. "That "wand" of yours. What can it do?"

"Mostly it opens doors... it's a Sonic Screwdriver." I sighed, but nodded in agreement. "Great! So, what happened with your mum and the death eaters? They are dead eaters, right? Like in the books?"

"Yeah, exactly like in the books," I said, leading him toward the cafe. "Mum and I were just going for a cup at The Elephant House when it happened. This annoying reporter was bugging us when I started to feel a little dizzy. Then, all of the sudden, my mum went stiff and the death eaters appeared. It seemed like that reporter woman was their leader of something. She told me to get out, and they pulled their wands on me, and..."

"It's alright, you did the right thing," he said, putting a comforting hand on my shoulder.

"Jess. Call me Jess," I smiled thankfully, turning back toward the cafe. "I just hope we can get her out of this... Hey! You look like a death eater!"

"Is that a compliment?"

"No, you look like David Tennant! He plays Barty Crouch Jr! You could impersonate him and infiltrate their forces!" I grinned excitedly. "Give me your jacket."

"But I love this coat! Janis Joplin gave this to me!"

"It's not evil enough. Wear mine instead." I said, taking off my jacket and holding it out.

"But it's a girl's coat!"

"It's a badass black leather jacket. Now wear it."

"Fine," he said, handing his long tan coat to me. I slid it on. It had a surprisingly silky interior. "Don't get too comfortable. You have to give it back," he said authoritatively.

"Sure I do," I winked. He looked a bit flustered.

"Alright, now get in there and figure out what they want with my mum and what they've done with her," I said, shooing him toward the door. I stood discreetly beside the window, popping the collar to hide my face as I spied through the glass.

The Doctor strode up to them and flashed his identification. I was sure he was about to be busted, but for some reason, it worked. They were talking to him as if he were one of them. If only I could hear what they were saying. I needed to move closer. They seemed to be distracted enough, so I snuck in and hid behind the counter.

"The harvest should be complete in 2 hours," one of them said.

"Harvest?" I whispered. What do they mean by harvest? What sick and twisted things are they doing? "I have to put an end to this." I climbed on top of the counter and jumped onto the back of the of the death eaters, my battle cry causing the other to turn immediately. The one I had was caught off guard, the Doctor had been the perfect distraction, but the other had speedy reflexes.

Luckily, the Doctor was quicker, and pulled out his Sonic Screwdriver. It made a sound as the end lit up. The Death Eater fell to the floor, unconscious. Unfortunately, my Death Eater had his hands over his ears. I noticed his wand was in his hand, however, and took the chance to slide it out from under his hand.

"Stupefy!" I said, bracing myself. It worked! He fell to the floor and I managed to catch my footing, wand in hand, and feeling powerful. "I just used magic!" I gaped at the wand in my hand.

"That was brilliant, Jess!" he exclaimed as I regained focus and burst through the door. To my surprise, the room only contained more Death Eaters.

"Stupefy!" I shouted, taking them out one by one, the Doctor by my side. Before long, they were on the floor, defeated. "Wow," I breathed. What a rush!

"They must have taken her somewhere when they heard us outside," the Doctor said.

"Where did they take her?" I exclaimed, turning to him.

"I don't know!"

"You were supposed to be infiltrating their forces! Did you find out anything?"

"They're working for Arachnidia," he said.

"That's all fine and dandy, but how do we find them?"

"Where would they retreat to if they were in one of your mother's books?" he asked. A slow grin grew on my face as I realized where they went. No one knew my mom like me, and I knew exactly what she's do.

I grabbed a broom, which was conveniently leaning against the wall. It was no Firebolt, but it would do. I opened the window and mounted the broom, "hop on."

"Can I have my coat back, first?" he asked. I nodded and tossed it over to him. He graciously handed my jacket back to me. It felt good to be back in my own skin again. "Do you know how to fly a broom?" he asked as he swung his leg over.

"Just hold on," I said, aiming for the window. He wrapped his arms around me- just in time, too, because we kicked off at top speed.

"Wahoo!" he shouted as we soared above rooftops.

"People will hear you!" I shouted against the wind.

"Let them!" he replied, before shouting out again. I rolled my eyes. As I did so, I saw him raise his fist in the air. "Let them se us as they want to see us!"

"You've seen The Breakfast Club?"

"Of course! It's a classic!" he said as if it were the most natural thing in the world for an alien to watch 80's movies.

"We're almost there, hold on!" once he put his hand back on my waist, I dove toward the ground.

"You do know how to land this thing," he said, although it sounded more like a question. I didn't think it wise to answer.

We crashed through the treetops, branches clawing at our sides, needles scratching our faces as we made our descent. At last we met the ground, but in the most awkward way possible, as per usual.

"Agh!" I exclaimed as the broom handle split, digging into my leg. We tumbled onto the cold leaf-covered earth. "Stupid broom."

"Don't blame the broom," the Doctor said as he got to his feet.

"Blame the driver, yeah, I got it," I said, getting to my feet.

"You're hurt," he said, his face suddenly overwhelmed by a look of concern.

"I'm fine, it just ripped my jeans," I insisted.

"And your skin." He persisted, referring to the splinters of wood sticking out from my leg.

"It's nothing-"

"Who's the Doctor, you or me?" He raised his eyebrows. I sighed and ripped the hole in my jeans enough to access the whole wound. "Here, sit down," the Doctor said, motioning to a lump on the side of a tree. I eyed it before I sat down, to make sure it seemed big enough to sit on. I decided to go for it, and it didn't collapse or anything, so the Doctor went ahead and began to pull the splinters out of my leg.

"So are you really a doctor?" I asked suspiciously as he tended to my wound.

"Well..." I guess that's a no... "Technically, I did gain a doctorate under Joseph Lister in Glasgow in 1888, but that was over 400 years ago."

"It hasn't been that long," If I was doing my math correctly.

"For you," he clarified as he stood, removing his jacket. "Here."

"What's this for?"

"It'll protect you," he replied, "you know, for the next time you fall."

"Thanks," I smiled, truly grateful. "Take mine. It may be a girl jacket, but it's tough."

"How do I look?" He asked, modeling his new jacket for me.

"Badass," I smirked. "Me?"

"Radiant, and a little intimidating."

"A little?" I raised a brow, crossing my arms.

"Sorry, sorry. I meant very intimidating. Very... badass."

"That's more like it," I nodded, content. I reached into my pocket for my newly acquired wand. "Episkey," I muttered, the wound healing before my eyes. "Tergeo," the blood drying up and disappearing from my skin. "Reparo," I finished, my jeans mending themselves instantly. Growing up on Harry Potter was really coming in handy.

"Allons-y!" the Doctor said, clapping his hands together and turning on his heel.

"Right, Allonzy," I said, marching behind him. The shade from the trees made the forest seem even darker than it was, an almost foggy loom stretching in front of us.

"Stay here," he said as figures came into view. I ignored him and kept moving. "Arachnidia, I presume!" He said, striding into the scene. The fog cleared as we moved closer and I saw her, the spindly blonde reporter, only she was different.

"Who's there," her voice said, almost animalistic in nature.

"Me," the Doctor said, stepping into the clearing.

"And me," I added, stepping beside him.

"What did I tell you?" he said, his voice changing to a whisper directed to me.

"You honestly thought I was going to hide behind some tree?"

"Fair point... Alright Arachnida, this is your chance to-"

"Give my mum back or i'll blast you to bits!" I said, gripping my wand tightly. Arachnida cackled as hair began to grow from her legs. Not just normal leg hair, but long grey icky hair from all of her limbs. Her body began to transform, molding into some misshapen beast, sort of like an alien version of a spider- like Aragog, only bigger, if that's even possible. "Well that's new."

"Arachnida... Please. Just end this and we can all part ways peacefully."

"You're right about one thing, Doctor-"

"Uh, Doctor?" I said nervously, inching closer to him. We were surrounded by Death Eaters. Lots of them.

"I can find you a new realm, a new place to live. You can start a new life."

"The Trickster is done with trifles- he's changing the game."

The Doctor's voice lowered, "then you leave me no choice." He turned his attention to me, my eyes locked dead on that monster. "Now."

Before they had any time to react, my wand was pointed directly at her... it. Whatever it was, it was gone, dead in an instant. With it left the death eaters, the fog, and everything else. Including my mum.

"W-what happened? Why is she gone?" I said, beginning to panic. "Oh my god, i've killed her. I've killed my own mother. I am the worst daughter in history. I'm scum. I'm worse than scum. I'm the scum they scrape off of scum!"

"You're not scum and she's not dead."

"Then where is she?"

"Probably at The Elephant House for her afternoon tea."

"I don't understand."

"As soon as you cast that spell, it never happened."

"Then why am I hear? Why can I remember?"

He turned to me and, for the first time, he didn't look happy at all. "I'm sorry. I'm so so sorry."

"What do you mean?" I backed away from him, betrayed by what his words might mean. I broke into a sprint, running back towards town. I didn't know what he meant, but I wanted him to be wrong. I never wanted him to be wrong more than I did at this moment.

When I reached The Elephant House, it was in perfect order. Nothing was broken or out of place. And she was there. My mum. Sitting at the table, sipping a cup of hot coffee and reading newspaper clippings. I grinned, relieved she was alright. My happiness was cut short when someone sat down next to her. My heart shattered as I realized I had been replaced.

"I'm so sorry, Jess. This shouldn't have happened," the Doctor said, appearing behind me. I felt utterly defeated, broken, and empty as I stood outside the window, watching my mother drink coffee with a stranger.

"But she's me... how is she me?" I said, analyzing the girl for any difference she might have, but there was none. She was an exact copy of me.

"She's you, a different you, the you you would have been if none of this happened. You being here- it's impossible. I'm sorry."

"Will you stop apologizing?!" I exclaimed, but I was a bit too loud and they heard me. The Doctor acted swiftly, sweeping me away from sight and holding me in front of him.

"Listen to me, Jess. I know it's not fair- and this isn't your fault- but I can't change it, however..." He dangled a key in front of me.

"What's this?" I asked, my urge to cry muffled by curiosity as I took the key from his hands.

"A key to the TARDIS. Endless opportunities and adventures await. All you have to do is say yes."

"What about her?" I asked, my eyes wandering back to my mum sitting peacefully inside the cafe.

"If she sees you, all of reality will collapse," he said, his eyes apologizing for him when his words could not.

"I understand," I said, eyeing the little silver key lying in my palm.

"I'll be inside," he said, giving me space to decide. I could have been staring at that key for hours before I finally made up my mind. I took a deep breath and walked up to the TARDIS, stepping inside. There he was, waiting for me, with a mischievous grin on his face. I grinned back, knowing I was about to embark on the ultimate adventure.


	2. Amelia Earhart and the Tractators

"Where to first?" the Doctor asked, standing by the controls. "I can take you to ancient Egypt, Rome, the discovering of America, Fairyland, Razvahan, Padrivole Regency 9, the Lost Lands, Dastaria..."

"Home, Doctor. I want to go home," I said softly, sure of myself and my decision.

"Very well, then," he said, pushing some buttons on the console. I walked up to him.

"Think you can teach me how to fly this thing? I've always wanted to be a pilot," I said, tracing the control panel with my finger.

"Very well, you can fly us to our next adventure, but first, Portugul, 1993," he said, beginning to push a series of buttons and was about to pull a lever when I stopped him by putting my hand over his, holding it in place.

"No, not then. December in Edinburgh- at the train station," I said, my eyes steady. I did not want to see my father and what we were. I wanted to see my mum and me at the beginning of our adventure in Britain.

"Edinburgh, then," he agreed and, together, we set course for my first day in Britain.

There she was, my mum as young and beautiful as the break of dawn. Her hair was longer, then, and a brighter blonde. Less gray from years of stress as a single mother. She had a baby carrier in one arm, a trunk in the other, and about five bags strapped around her in the most awkward way possible. It was no surprise when they fell off her arms and onto the floor. She focused on keeping me from falling, which resulted in dropping her trunk as well. Naturally, I ran to help her pick up her things.

"Jess!" the Doctor called after me, but I ignored him.

"Here, let me help," I said, reaching to pick up her bags.

"Sorry, i'm a bit frazzled. Life's a bit chaotic right now," mum said, chuckling bitterly.

"It'll get better," I said, handing her bags back to her, "trust me."

"Thanks..."

"Jess," I said with a smile.

"Jess, what a lovely name."

"I think so," I smiled.

"My name's Jo," she said, but couldn't outstretch her hand to shake mine. We both laughed, "nice to meet you."

"You too. Good luck with your new life, and your baby," I smiled, turning away and walking back to the TARDIS.

"That was reckless," the Doctor said, looking cross.

"But the world didn't collapse, did it? She didn't recognize me, i'm still a baby."

"You think you're so clever."

"I know I am," I smirked, patting his shoulder as I walked past him and into the TARDIS. "Come on, the universe awaits us!"

"Right you are!" his face lit up as he ran up to the console, shutting the door behind him. "And I know just the place!"

"Ah ah ah!" I scolded, stopping him before he could touch it. "I'm flying this time." The Doctor complied and gave me instructions on what to do. When it came time to take off, I was so excited I could explode. "I can't believe it! I'm flying a time machine!" I grinned. Suddenly, the TARDIS began to shake. "...or crashing one."

"What did you do?" the Doctor exclaimed, taking over the controls.

"Nothing! I did exactly what you told me to!" I said, grabbing onto the railing.

"Hold on! We're going to crash!" he exclaimed. I secured my grip as we hit more turbulence before finally steadying after one final thrust.

"Doctor?" I asked, my head spinning.

"Here," he said, climbing to his feet. He had been thrown over the railing, but it wasn't much of a fall.

"You okay?"

"Yeah, you?"

"Peachy," I said, still catching my breath. "Where are we?"

"Let's find out, shall we?" he said, jumping right back on the ball. I followed him as he practically skipped to the door. As he opened it, it revealed a sandy beach with lush greenery not twenty feet away.

"It's some kind of island!" I said, tossing my jacked onto the railing before stepping onto the beach.

"Not just any island... Nikumaroro," the Doctor said. Confused, I followed his line of sight and stopped when I saw her.

"Is that?" I gasped.

"Amelia Earhart," he responded. I squealed and ran up to her, shaking her hand fervently.

"So good to meet you Amelia! I'm Jess, and this is the Doctor," I grinned like an idiot and she gawked like I was mad.

"Who are you and how did you get here?" she said suspiciously.

"Why, the TARDIS, of course!" I said, ready to explain everything, but the Doctor put a hand on my shoulder to calm me down. "Right, sorry..."

"TARDIS? What's a TARDIS? I've definitely gone mad. I knew this would happen eventually. Once I lost Fred, there was no hope for my sanity." Amelia said, looking glum as she sat down on the sand.

"What's wrong?" I asked, sitting beside her. "Tell me what happened."

"My plane crashed and Fred was injured. Fatally, i'm afraid and, well..." she gestured over to a lump in the sand, a makeshift cross sticking out from it. "My plane is beyond repair and i'm stranded on this lonely place."

"Our time machine crashed, too. What year is it, now? 1937? 38?"

"Can't tell you, I've lost track of the days, but yes, I imagine it's around then. I took off on my voyage in 37. Did you say time machine?"

"Yes, yes I did," I said with a grin.

"Please, please take me back to save Fred!" she pleaded, holding my hand and looking at me with puppy eyes.

"I- I'd have to ask the Doctor. I'm not sure what kind of rules there are about this stuff," I turned my head over my shoulder and called the Doctor before turning back to Amelia. "So what caused the plane crash?" I asked, hoping I could solve the mystery now that I had Amelia as witness.

"Not sure, really. We were flying just fine when we hit some really nasty turbulence. Almost as if we were being sucked down out of the sky."

"I checked the TARDIS and there's nothing wrong, it had to have been an external force," the Doctor said, running over to us.

"Just to be clear, it wasn't my driving that caused it?" I said, pushing for an apology.

"No, it wasn't," he exhaled childishly, "so what is it? What have you found?"

I smirked triumphantly before continuing, "Amelia, can you tell us exactly what happened?"

"Well, Fred and I were flying over Kiribati in the Pacific when we hit a bit of rough air. Worse than any I had ever dealt with- if it were any normal sort, we should have gotten through it, but it was as if something was pulling the plane down."

"Yes! Oh, it's brilliant!" the Doctor said, leaping in joy. We had a breakthrough.

"What's with him?" she asked me, unsure why we were so excited over her misfortune.

"He likes mysteries- and investigating! Come along, Amelia!" I announced, heading for the forest.

"Wait- you can't go in there!" Amelia shouted.

"Where's your sense of adventure, Amelia?" I said, egging her on. Had I bothered to look back at her, I would have seen just how terrified she was. Maybe then I wouldn't have gone in alone. Maybe then I would have waited for the Doctor. Maybe then I wouldn't have been captured by the Tractators.

"Hey!" I shouted, spotting something unusual, hoping to get its attention. "Are you an alien?" I asked, realizing that was kind of stupid to ask that only moments after, when it turned around.

"You," the beast grunted. It was big, as big as a man, but more of an invertebrate. It had a shiny black shell and, between each section black tuffs of fur stuck out. Its face was kind of like a fish, but it had big creepy eyes and two long antannae. Think roach. "You are a human."

"So? What's it to you? What are you, anyway?"

"We are the Tractators, led by the almighty Gravis," he said, rising to his hind legs, as did his friends, which only now revealed themselves. I must admit, they blended into the shadows quite well.

"Gravis? What the bloody hell is a Gravis?" I asked, not backing down despite being outnumbered.

"Gravis is our leader, the most powerful Tractator. He has power and intelligence beyond your wildest dreams, human child."

"Hey! I'm not a child! You... You... Fish Beetle! Why do you need me, anyway? What good am I to you?"

"We need intelligent humans to power our machinery," he said as a couple of them stood beside me, grabbing my arms.

"Aw, you think i'm intelligent. How sweet," I said in a sugary voice. "Let me go so I can give you a big ol' kiss."

"Flattery won't work on us, human. We only follow the orders of Gravis."

"You know, i'm traveling with the Doctor. Clever man, he is. Clever as ten of me, at least. I bet if you guys had him on your side, you wouldn't need any more humans, you'd be all set!"

"Where is the Doctor?" they asked, eager for my cooperation.

"I could fetch him for you, if you'd like," I offered innocently. The Tractators looked at one another skeptically, before releasing me.

"Bring us the Doctor," they said.

"Aye aye, Lord Fish Beetle," I saluted before dashing off into the forest. "Suckers," I snorted, but when I reached the beach, the Doctor was gone. "Amelia, where's the Doctor?"

"He went to look for you, of course!" she said, running up to me. "What are those?"

"Oh, Tractators," a few had followed me, it seems.

"They look like... Fish Beetles," she staggered, looking disgusted.

"I know, right?"

"Where is the Doctor?" one of them asked.

"Oh, they speak! This is a marvel," Amelia gasped curiously, carefully inspecting them with her eyes.

"Looks like he's popped out at the moment. Would you like some tea while we're waiting?" I asked sweetly. Apparently they didn't, because they grabbed my arms with their awkwardly webbed hands. "We have coffee too! No?" They started to pull me back toward the forest.

"What do I do, Jess?" Amelia called from the beach. She must have a branch or something to fight them off, because she hadn't been captured yet.

"Find the Doctor! He'll know what to do," I called as I disappeared into the forest. Gravis wasn't going to be too happy with me. When we arrived, we were at the site of a plane crash. No, it was a spaceship. There was a particular Tractator standing on a plane of it. He was a bit more green than the others and seemed to be in charge, as no one stood too close to him. "Hey there, Gravis. You look ravishing!"

"Flattery will get you nowhere, woman of Earth. Tell me, where is the Doctor?"

"He's on his way. I told him not to keep you waiting, but you know how he is, always wanting to make an entrance," I sighed dramatically.

"I just like to be fashionably late, is all!" a voice called from the treetops. Confused as to why he was up there, we all turned just in time to see him swing down on a vine. "Allons-y!" he shouted as he swung. My eyes widened as I realized he wasn't planning on stopping, he was planning on taking me with him. I held out my hand and he took it. I braced myself as we swung through the air, landing on a tree branch. I nearly lost my footing, but managed to stay atop it.

"We had a deal, Doctor," the Gravis said.

"Oh, yes indeed. You wanted me, and here I am!" he said, opening his arms wide. "You might want to save this," he whispered, handing me his vine. I took it without hesitation, assuming he had some plan in mind.

"You will assist us, Doctor," the Gravis said as the Doctor hopped down.

"I'm not just going to assist you, i'm going to save you." the Doctor said, immersing himself in the crowd of Tractators. "Amelia!" he shouted. Just then, Amelia came out of the spaceship behind Gravis and tossed his sonic screwdriver back to him. "Jess!" he called, stepping to the side. I knew what I had to do. So I gave my best Tarzan battle cry and swung down, aiming for the Gravis. I kicked him straight in the- I guess it's his chest- and knocked him back into the spaceship. The Doctor activated his sonic, which made the hatch close. As it did, Amelia saluted bravely with a smile on her face while I swung awkwardly back and forth on the vine, unable to stop.

"Doctor!" I called, getting nauseous. Two stable hands grabbed my waist and I let go of the vine, letting them guide me back to the ground. "What about Amelia? She's stuck in there with Gravis!"

"He'll be harmless now that he's separated from the other Tractators. As soon as she passes through the atmosphere, he'll be friendly as a puppy and ten times as intelligent," he said, watching the spaceship as the engines started. I followed his line of sight and watched as Amelia took off, heading into the sky with her new companion.

"Amelia Earhart and the Gravis, traveling the stars," I said as the ship grew smaller with distance. "Earth's greatest pilot and female adventurer with the whole of the universe ahead of her."

"It's going to be one hell of an adventure."

"So what do we do now? All these Tractators..." I said, walking through the swarm of them and back toward shore. They were no longer on their hind legs, but were crawling on the ground like bugs.

"They're harmless little things now, dumb as a doornail. They'll just burrow beneath the Earth's surface for a few hundred years until another Gravis comes along."

"I wouldn't say they're small," I shuddered, remembering the feeling of their hands on my arms. Well then, how about a quick swim before our next adventure? The water here is lovely."

"You want to swim in the ocean?" he asked, as if were unthinkable.

"Well i'm not going to swim in the treetops, am I?" I smirked, hanging the Doctor's coat on a branch. His eyes widened as I started to take my clothes off. "Don't worry, i'm going to keep my knickers on," I rolled my eyes. What a baby. "Well, come on then!" I said, finally kicking off my pants, the last article I was wearing aside from my bra and undies.

"I- I can't," he said, unmoving.

"Well why not?" I put my hands on my hips, wondering what he was getting at. "You can swim, can't you?"

"Not really, no..."

"900 years and you haven't used the swimming pool once?" my jaw dropped, appalled.

"I've always been hopping from one planet to another, swimming was never really of interest." Understandable. With a whole universe of adventures, why would he spend any time floating about in a pool of water?

"Take your pants off," I commanded.

"What?" his face twisted in surprise.

"Shy, are we? Come on, i'm going to teach you how to swim," I grinned, feeling a bit cheeky. No pun intended.

"Well then," he said, loosening his tie, "Allons-y!"


	3. Valentine's Short Holiday Special

"Good morning!" the Doctor exclaimed in an animated voice. I walked into the control room, rubbing my eyes from sleepiness and from the ludicrous sight before me. The entire control room was decorated with frilly pink and red things, hearts and excessive adornments. "Chocolate?" he offered, holding out a little foil-wrapped sweet.

"What in Time Lord's name is all this?" I gasp, popping the chocolate in my mouth as I do.

"This is for my Sexy," he says proudly, showing off his work.

"I'm sorry?" I ask for clarification, "Did you just call me sexy?" He was speaking nonsense again, unless, of course, he was calling me sexy. Then he just had good taste.

"No, of course not!" I don't know why, but I'm a bit disappointed. Not that i'm vain or anything... never mind. "This is Sexy!" he says, patting the controls.

"The TARDIS?"

"Of course!" he grins. "I've got something else for you," he says, pushing a few buttons. "Come on Sexy!" I shrug and grab a hold of something, just in case the TARDIS shook. It didn't.

"Did we move?" I ask.

"The TARDIS' mood determines the turbulence. She seems to be in a good mood, today!" he hops in place and skips to the door. "Welcome to Florana!" he opens the door to reveal the most beautiful place i've ever seen. I step out onto a land carpeted by perfumed flowers, seas of warm milk, and sand as soft as a swan's down.

"It's beautiful," I breathe.

"Follow me!" he shouts, running out onto the water. Bubbles rose to the surface, creating a path for him to step on. They were supporting him as he ran. I kicked off my shoes, leaving them inside the TARDIS, and ran after him. This was the best holiday ever.


	4. Soldier of the Revolution

"Charlestown, Massachusetts, 1775!" the Doctor says, bursting through the doors of the TARDIS.

"Massachusetts? As in America?" I ask, stepping outside and seeing men in waist coats, breeches, stockings, and buckled shoes. A woman walked by in a gown, complete with a bodice and bonnett. "I don't think i'm dressed for this..."

"Your clothes aren't too revealing for- maybe you should change..." he says, noting my somewhat rebellious clothes. They weren't too revealing, but I doubt leather jackets and tight black jeans are acceptable for this time period. Although I like my clothes, and they're great for adventures, I can't pass up dressing up for them every once in a while. "Haven't been to a colonial town before... you'll have to get new clothes," he says, heading for a clothing shop down the street.

"I'm fine in these clothes," I insist, although I am eager to try on the persona of someone from a different time.

"Good maiden, would you be so kind as to help my fair lady here find a dress?" he says to a woman, who seems bashful at his advance.

"Fair lady?" I murmur skeptically to myself.

"Come with me," she says softly and leads me further into the shop and behind a room divider. "If you don't mind me asking," she says as she tugs on my corset, causing me to gasp for air, "why were you dressed like that?"

"I'm a traveller," I say vaguely. She doesn't press further and I come to the conclusion she didn't really want to know. "What's your name?"

"Abitha Williams," she says politely, lacing up my bodice. I was sorely unskilled at dressing in colonial clothing. "And you?"

"Jessica Rowling"

"Is that Normanic?"

"Uh, yeah," I say, although I really don't know. "How many more layers are there?" I ask, already feeling a bit warm under the heavy dressings.

"Just the bonnet and..." she says, tying it under my chin, "there! Now, how big are your feet?"

"I'm keeping my shoes, thank you," I say with a curtsey and step out from behind the divider. The Doctor is pacing and whistling nonchalantly, as if he wasn't just doing something he shouldn't be. "How do I look?"

"My dear Jessica, you have become a lady! Abitha, you are a miracle worker!"

"Yeah, yeah," I roll my eyes. "What about you? Trench-coats aren't exactly in style, Doctor"

"The coat stays."

"I gave up my jacket, now you give up yours!" I insist,

"No!" he says childishly, as if I were trying to take away his toy. I glare at him and stomp out of the store and toward the TARDIS to drop off my old clothes. Didn't want to leave them in colonial America by accident. Plus, I felt a little spark of triumph by leaving him with the bill, although i'm not sure how he's going to pay for it. What's the currency here, anyway?

"Excuse me," I say, stopping a man on the street. A soldier, from the looks of it. "What do you call currency here?"

"Not from around here, are you? British?" he raised a brow suspiciously, his eyes a soft brown hidden behind thick eyelashes.

"Don't worry, i'm not a spy or anything. Just an innocent third party traveller. Jessica Rowling," I say, sticking my hand out for a shake.

"The pleasure is all mine, Miss Rowling. My name is James Anderson, but you can call me anything you like," he says, kissing the back of my hand gingerly. I blushed, trying to think of something to say that wouldn't sound utterly foolish. I told myself to talk as if I were from this time, but the only words that came to mind were "sir" and "milady" and "don't shoot until you see the white's of their eyes," but none of those were really conversation starters.

"So you're a soldier," I say cooly, "how old are you?"

"Old enough to fight," he says, standing straight. He was certainly taller than me, but his face still held the mischief of a boy. Similar to the Doctor's own wild look, although James hardly had the 5 o'clock shadow the Doctor had. "You?"

"A lady must never reveal her age," I say with a sly smirk.

"I meant that you're a traveller. Care to tell me about your travels?" he offers me his arm as a prompt to go on a walk. What could it hurt? I place my hand on his arm and walk with him down the unpaved street lined with neat little buildings. "So, do you have a companion?"

"Yes," I nod and, noticing his expression, explain. "Not that kind of companion- we just accompany each other on trips. Completely platonic," I press my lips together hopefully and peer over at James.

"Traveling in these times is dangerous, Miss Rowling," he says gravely, "are you confident he can keep you safe? Could he protect you from monsters?"

"Monsters?" I stop short.

"The British, I mean," he says, looking away. "Not you, you're not a monster, I mean-"

"James, have you seen something? Tell me if you have?"

"You'll think i'm mad. If the general found out, he'd have me removed from the army-"

"I won't tell, James, but I will understand. I've seen plenty of monsters in my travels," I assure him, holding his face steady so he was forced to look at me.

"On Bunker Hill," he starts, "I saw monsters roaming there, large beasts two heads taller than I."

"What kind of monsters? What did they look like?" I say, trying to contain my excitement and only express concern.

"They are cloaked with hunched backs and hands like a man's, but a head of a bird," he says uneasily. "You think i'm mad."

"No, no, you're not mad. You just need help, and I just happen to know a Doctor."

"You rang?" the Doctor says as he pops in between us. I am not startled, but James took a step back.

"If I didn't know better, i'd say you were spying on us, Doctor," I smirk. "James, this is the Doctor. Doctor, this is James."

"Hello James!" the Doctor exclaims.

"Doctor," he nods, falling back in step with me.

"James here has spotted monsters out on Bunker Hill!" I blurt, proud of my findings.

"You said you wouldn't tell!" James whispers, looking over his shoulder.

"Oh calm down, it's just the Doctor," I say but the Doctor has already begun asking questions.

"They sound like Shansheeth," he says, "probably here because there's a battle tomorrow morning."

"Battle? Here in Boston?" I ask. He looks at me as if this were common knowledge. I shrug, "history was never really my thing." He laughs at this.

"We should stick around for a couple days," he says, looking around and breathing in the air. It was fresh, clean, yet had a distinctly repugnant smell. Hygiene wasn't really a thing in the 1800's.

"Yes, we should definitely stick around," I agree aloud, almost too quickly. I blush when James looks down at me and look away, focusing on the green grass and colonial girls. Their intricate dresses beautiful, yet itchy looking only now that I could relate. I find myself shifting in my own dress, now conscious of my discomfort.

"Well then, would you care for a tour?" he asks, offering me his arm again. I grin and take his arm, following him down the road. He began to tell me all about the town, about his family, his little sister Abigail, his elderly neighbor and their grandchild that came over every day before church. Then we came to the church, which had a great white point atop it, not unlike those in Britain. "And this is Old North. Just two months ago, Robert Newman climbed that steeple on the eve of the Revolution."

"It's beautiful, James," I say, "can we go inside?"

"Certainly," he says, leading me through the doors. It was bigger on the inside, just like the TARDIS, only instead of alien technology, it was equipped with stained windows and benches. Not a single person was inside, which seemed to unnerve James. "I'm sorry, Miss Rowling, but this will have to be the end of our tour."

"I told you," I turn to him, "It's Jess. How many times must you call me that?"

"At least once more," he says, his gaze unfaltering as he brushes a stray strand from my face. I close my eyes at his touch and find his lips on mine. "Good night, Miss Rowling."

I walked back to the TARDIS, cleverly placed in an alley, although its color did little to keep it discreet.

"You were out late," the Doctor says from a chair in the control room.

"I didn't realize I had a curfew," I snort, heading for my room. "Good night, Doctor."

But I couldn't sleep. Not a wink. I changed out of my dress immediately, but even then I could not sleep. I was too enveloped by the outside world. Colonial America. 1775. James.

I climb out of bed and slip on jeans and a tank top, finishing it off with my signature leather jacket. When I stepped outside, I realized I had slept. Four hours, maybe.

The streets are bare, but there isn't complete darkness. In the distance, on top of a hill, figures moved against the dimly lit sky. Maybe they were those Shansheeth James talked about.

"Going somewhere without me, are you?" the Doctor asked. I jumped, startled as he stepped out of the TARDIS.

"I want to check out what's going on up there," I say, jutting my chin toward the hill.

"Well then, we'd better get going! Let's wrap this up by morning," he says, starting toward the hill.

"Why?" I ask as we walk.

"Because I can't protect you from bullets, Jess," I look up at him and see sympathetic eyes, "and it's going to be a bloodbath." Of course- we're in the middle of the Revolutionary War between the Americans and the British.

As we grew closer to the hill, the figures became more detailed. They weren't Shansheeth, they were men. Patriots. They were digging trenches to prepare for the battle that was to come. There was a pile of muskets on the ground as men gathered planks of wood while others dug in the ditch.

"This is brilliant!" I breathe, marveled at their strategy. With the ditch being 6 ft deep, if they stood on platforms, shooting down the hill, there was virtually no chance of being shot by advancing soldiers.

"Civilians shouldn't be out here," a man says, approaching us. "Especially women." The Doctor whipped out the psychic paper and he immediately stood down, nodding at us respectfully. "What can I do for you, General?"

"We're looking for James Anderson," he says, sticking his hands in his coat pockets casually.

"Anderson!" he shouts, and a man about twenty feet down climbs out of the ditch.

"Colonel," he says, running up to us. His demeanor changes when he sees me. "Miss Rowling," he gasps, looking me up and down.

"Doctor," I say, nudging him. The sun was beginning to rise. On the horizon, the sunlight revealed British ships on the shoreline.

"In the ditch, both of you," the Colonel says, grabbing the muskets and tossing one at each of us. I catch mine easily, but the Doctor refuses and goes straight into the ditch. "Don't shoot until you see the whites of their eyes!"

"What are you doing here?" James asked, landing next to me. Much more gracefully than I had landed. "I told you it was dangerous."

"Which is exactly why i'm here," I say with a cocky smile. "Let's go find those monsters."

"I have orders, Miss Rowling, and you need to get out of here."

"Think of it this way. Your men are prepared to face a frontal attack, but they don't know about the monsters on the hill behind them that could attack at any moment."

"Actually-" the Doctor starts, but I cut him off.

"Lead the way, James." He climbs out and offers me his hand. We follow him over the hilltop. "Since when are you not up for an adventure, Doctor?"

"Look, Jess, the Shansheeth are peaceful and are probably just here to return fallen soldiers to their families."

"Maybe," I say, "but we won't know for certain that the monsters are even Shansheeth." As we reach the tip of the hill, large vulture-like creatures come into view. Their cloaks were dark, their skin pink, and a white ring of feathers at the base of their necks.

"Shansheeth! Oh, I love a good Shansheeth," the Doctor says, announcing his presence. "Hello!"

"Doctor!" James shouts and dives, knocking him to the ground just before an energy beam shoots from the Shansheeth's hand. They roll down the hill toward the battle and stop about ten feet from me. I drop to the ground to avoid being hit by anything.

"I don't understand, Shansheeth are peaceful creatures," the Doctor panted, army crawling until he was next to me.

"Could've fooled me," I say, glaring analytically down at the creatures. They looked like they were waiting for something. Like vultures.

"They could be rogue," James suggests. "Instead of returning the bodies, they could be scouting to use them for something else."

"Only one way to find out," the Doctor says, jumping to his feet and walking toward the Shansheeth. "Hold your fire!" he says with his hands in the air, "I'm the Doctor. You're the Shansheeth. We're friends."

"We are no longer affiliated with the Shansheeth." The sound of gunshots go off behind me and James puts his arm around me as I duck my head, covering my neck. It was a simple reaction I developed in primary school, meant for protection against tornadoes. I doubt it would do any good here.

"But why are you here, if not returning soldiers to their families? Why a battlefield, of all places?"

"Because, Doctor, we need the bodies."

"Why?" he pressed. A bullet hit the earth not three feet from my leg. My eyes widen as I realize the battle has moved further up the hill. We had to decide which side to be on- who was less dangerous?

"For the Gelth. They're paying us quite well for a hefty supply of human hosts."

"Doctor, who are the Gelth?" I say, climbing to my feet and moving forward. I should have moved slower, or announced my presence, or something, because as soon as I stood, I was hit with a red energy beam. I fell to my knees, letting out a scream that didn't sound like it was coming from me, but it was.

"Hold it! Hold it!" the Doctor shouts, stepping in-between us. The pain stopped. "No need for weapons." I open my eyes to see James pointing his rifle at the Shansheeth.

"He shot Miss Rowling, Doctor."

"I know, I know, just let me handle this. We don't need to resort to violence."

"We're in the middle of a war, Doctor," James retorts. "And they're already attacking."

"James," I whisper, "put your gun down."

He looks down at me gravely, not understanding my request. To my surprise, he lowers it and offers his hand to help me up.

"How about you try threatening them, Doctor? They've got to fear someone, why don't you give their daddy a call?" I say, holding out my cell phone. He grins and holds it up, making the announcement to them that he is going to contact the Galactic Undertaking. "Leave peacefully, or I call the Wide Wing of the High Shansheeth Nest?"

"That device can't contact-" the Doctor held up his sonic screwdriver, beaming it at my cell phone.

"There! Now it can." He stares at them, refusing to back down. "Well? What'll it be?"

My hand clenched dangerously tight around James' coat, I kept my eyes peeled for a sign of hostile movement among them. Bullets rung through the air, the shout of soldiers echoing behind us. Together, the Shansheeth leave, and I let out breath I hadn't realized I had been holding.

"Jess, are you okay?" the Doctor says, holding my face in his hands.

"Yes," I say through squished cheeks. He sighs and engulfs me in a hug.

"I'm sorry. I'm so sorry," he says, face buried in my hair. A fresh round of bullets reminds us where we are.

"You have to get going," James says, gripping his gun.

"Won't you come with us?" I pull away from the Doctor, still holding onto him.

"I can't abandon my brothers," he says dutifully. "I'm sorry, Miss Rowling." I stride forward and wrap my arms around him. Tears form in my eyes as the Doctor's words remind me of what is to come. A bloodbath. "It's going to be all right."

"You're right, because you're going to survive this war and live a long happy life in the United States of America. You'll forget all about Miss Rowling and the Doctor. You'll have a family. You'll be happy." When I pulled away, I was crying. And he kissed me.

"You're going to run away with the Doctor," he says, his hand slowly sliding from my neck and to his side. "Goodbye, Jess."

I press my lips together to keep them from quivering. He backs away from me and runs toward the trench, hopping in as bullets whiz by him. I let in a sharp breath as one grazes his arm.

"We have to go," the Doctor says, pulling me back. I walk backwards for a bit, but we began to move too fast and I had to turn away. We ran and ran until we reached the TARDIS, swinging the door shut behind us. I run to the control and start pushing buttons. "What are you doing?"

"Looking up James Anderson in the TARDIS database," I say, my face composed, but tears still cling to my cheeks. He takes my hand and moves it away from the controls, taking over with more precision and accuracy. Frankly, I hardly knew what I was doing, but I had to know. Was he dying out there, or does he survive this battle?

I watch the screen, my eyes unblinking as it begins to form a photo of him. He is older, wearing a different uniform, and there is a flag behind him. The American flag.

"Born 1755, married Sarah Anderson in 1780, had two children, died 1822 at age 67," the Doctor reads. I smile.


	5. Potatoes and Jelly, Part One

"DOCTOR!" I shout from the deepest part of my lungs, my voice carrying as far as I will it. It seems it didn't carry far enough, because he did not come. I stood, immersed in darkness, except for the brilliant light emitting from the giant green jellyfish's tentacles.

That's the last thing I remember, before waking up on a throne surrounded by glowing blobs of biomatter with long ropy tentacles. I clung to the chair, my hands gripping the arms until the white of my knuckles shone through my skin. My breathing is heavy as one of them approaches me, the electricity running through its tentacles becoming apparent as it grew closer. Even if I were to run, I wouldn't make it far. The ground was sheer ice- everything was. These creatures could hover, they didn't have to worry about slipping.

Perhaps I have already slipped and am suffering from a concussion. It would explain the airborne jellyfish. Still, that doesn't explain why I am on an alien planet with the Doctor nowhere to be found.

"The Doctor-" I begin.

"I am here, my Queen," a man says, stepping forward. He was a medic, not a Time Lord.

"No, THE Doctor. You know, the Time Lord? The man in the blue box? Seen any police boxes around?"

"No, my Queen. There is no such box on Ruta 3."

"Think," I murmur to myself. "Think... What would the Doctor do?" Suddenly, I let out a cry of triumph as I realize I was still wearing my leather jacket. I reach into the pocket and pull out my phone. When we were in Charlestown, the Doctor used his Sonic Screwdriver on my phone. I could call him!

"Doctor! Doctor!" I shout as the phone picks up. Thank god.

"Doctor?" a female voice asks. It's metallic and sharp, excited yet unsure.

"Who is this?" I ask, feeling invaded. There was a woman in the TARDIS. It wasn't my voice, so I couldn't have called the TARDIS at a different point in time. It could be a different companion of the Doctor's, though. Had he left me here? Forgotten?

"Queen of the Rutans! Who is speaking? Why do you ask of the Doctor?" I cover my phone with my hand, trying to keep the Rutans from hearing her. They thought I was their Queen, now, but if they found out I wasn't, they could turn hostile.

"How did you get on the TARDIS? Where is the Doctor?" I asked, panicked. Where was he, if not here or on the TARDIS? The Doctor once told me that I was never to leave the door of the TARDIS open, for if someone wandered in, someone who sought the power of its technology, the universe would be in great danger. I take a deep breath and try to think up the best way to handle this. There is a power-hungry alien in the TARDIS, I am trapped on an alien planet, and the Doctor is nowhere to be found.

"Are you ill, my Queen? Can I get you anything?" the medic Rutan asks.

"A glass of water and some Asprin would be delightful," I say, rubbing my temples.

"Asprin?" he cocks his head to the side.

"Nevermind, just leave me alone. All of you, quit staring and get back to work!" I stand, waving them off. Surely they had something productive to do. Once they were out of earshot, I held the phone back up to my ear. "You still there?"

"Where are you?" the voice asks. "Who are you?"

"I'm on your planet. Your, er, people think I am the Queen- you."

"You are where I should be, and I am where you should be... You are the Doctor."

"No, i'm his companion, Jessica Rowling," I say, realizing she must not know where he is if she thinks i'm him.

"You know how to fly the TARDIS. Tell me how."

Should I try to reason with her? Her people don't seem hostile and she seems nice enough. Maybe the Rutans are a kind race of alien. Maybe they will help me find the Doctor!

"If I tell you, will you help me find the Doctor?"

"Yes. Now how does this work?"

"First, load the accelerator, then dematerialize, release the hand brakes, add the coordinates, and accelerate," I say it fast, like the Doctor did when he taught me. She seems to get it all in one shot, because only a minute later, the TARDIS began to materialize a few feet away.

I jump to my feet, a grin spreading across my face. It was great to hear that familiar wooshing noise again. When she stepped out she was, in fact, in human form. She approached me.

"Thank you, Jessica Rowling, for your assistance in acquiring the weapon."

"W- weapon?" my face contorts with confusion.

"Yes. It shall prove quite useful in our war against the Sontarans. It could end this war."

"War? What war?"

"Our war with the Sontarians has become our sole purpose, our defining goal. You will help us get there, Jessica Rowling."

I shake my head, stepping down from the throne. "I didn't agree to this. A war wasn't in our agreement."

"The Rutan-Sontarian War has lasted for millions of years and wages across the universe. Far more important than a petty agreement. It is greater than you, even, Jessica Rowling."

It is then that I realize she has turned on me. I shift my eyes away only to find that the very Rutans I had shooed away were slowly returning, sensing the presence of their true Queen. I just hope she hasn't realized I am slowly backing toward the TARDIS.

"Stop her!" she shouts. I act instantly, rushing into the TARDIS and shutting the door behind me. I lock it just as something slams against it. I sigh with relief. They couldn't get in.

"Okay, TARDIS. It's just you and me," I say, hopping up to the console. "Search for data on the Sontarans," I say, watching symbols flash across the screen. Finally, a photo of a potato with the body of a stout soldier pops on screen, along with a slew of information. "Filter for coordinates," I say, watching as words disappeared and only numbers remained.

I set the coordinates, my hand pausing on the handbrakes. The Sontarans, they could only be as hostile as the Rutans when it comes to the TARDIS. Who knows what they've done with the Doctor. I'd have to be careful.

When I stepped out of the TARDIS, I hit the ground immediately. It was as if my body was sculpted out of led. There must be stronger gravity here. Much stronger gravity. Two men approached me and I could barely lift my head enough to see their heads before they were blocked by the nose of their guns.

"State your business, human boy," one grunted.

"I'm not a boy," I say, pushing myself to my knees. I pulled the TARDIS door shut instinctively, using the last bit of my strength. As I turned, I saw the men's faces. They were definitely Sontarans, with their potato-ey features and militaristic demeanor. "I'm a girl. Lower your weapons, you lousy potato," I say, using the handle of the TARDIS to rise to my feet.

"You will come with us, human girl," he spat out in the same disrespectful tone.

"Alright, but i'm going to need some help," I say, my hand still pressing against the TARDIS. One of them slapped a hand on my wrist, cool metal constricting around it. Thinking it is a handcuff, I struggle, but realize the gravity was lifted as the bracelet began to glow blue. "Thanks for that. I shall call you Mr. Potato, now," I smile ruefully, with a bit of a smirk.

"Walk," he orders, poking my back with his gun.

"Oi, watch it," I stumble forward, sending a cross glare back at him.

We walked down a long metal corridor for- I don't know how long- before coming into a cellar-esque area. It didn't take long for me to realize it was a jail. Up ahead was the Doctor.

"Doctor!" I rushed forward, grasping the bars of the jail cell. He was pacing in the back of the room. A Sontaran oepend the door and I ran inside. He rushed toward me, embracing me before pulling back and holding my face in his hands as if I were precious and delicate.

"Jess, are you alright? Did they hurt you?" he asked, searching my face for injuries.

"No, I'm fine," I smile, glad to see is unharmed. I hear the door screech shut behind me and I realize we are entrapped once again. "I actually ended up on the Sontaran's rival planet, surrounded by giant hostile jellyfish. Thanks for that," I squint accusingly at him, although the fact that he was in jail helped. I couldn't very well be mad at him if he was unable to rescue me.

"How did you get here, then?" he asks with that familiar expression on his face as he pieced together the puzzle.

"Something happened- I don't know what- but somehow I ended up on Rutan III, the Queen ended up in the TARDIS, and you ended up here on the Potato Planet."

"SHE WAS IN THE TARDIS?!" he exclaimed madly.

"She's gone now, I tricked her out," I say boastfully, leaving out the fact that she tricked me first. I watched as a wave of relief washed over him, nearly making his knees buckle.

"Relax, it's all sorted out now," I say, although I was neglecting the fact that we were in jail on a hostile planet. "So, you want to sonic us out of here?"

"Can't," he says, "they designed this cell just for me. My sonic screwdriver can't open the lock."

"Unacceptable," I say, reaching into his pocket and pulling out his screwdriver. "We are getting out of here and that's that."

I walk over to the lock, unclasp the gravity bracelet, and snap it onto the lock. I fall to my knees and I hear the Doctor approaching me when I do.

"What are you doing?" he asks, placing his hands under my arms and raising me to my feet.

"What you taught me to do- push buttons until something happens," I say, finally finding the right setting when the door clicks open. The Doctor snaps the bracelet back on my wrist and I stand up.

"Jessica Rowling you are BRILLIANT!"

"Clever, yes, but brilliant?" I ponder the thought bashfully, although secretly reveling in his shameless doting.

"Oh, don't you doubt yourself for a minute," he grins, grabbing my hand. "Allonsy!"


	6. Potatoes and Jelly, Part Two

"So why were you imprisoned anyway, Doctor?" I ask breathlessly as we run through the halls.

"The Sontarans and I don't get on too well. They thrive in warfare and I try to prevent it. They were about to attack the Rutans when I stepped in and, well, it didn't turn out so well for either of us."

"You stopped them, though," I say thankfully. If he hadn't, they would have attacked while I was still there. Suddenly, I resent any past resentment toward him. He had saved me, I just didn't see it.

"And you stopped the Rutans from getting a hold of the TARDIS," he returns my thanks with a squeeze of the hand.

"So, where are we going now, Doctor?"

"The TARDIS," he said as if it were the most obvious thing. He slowed as he realized the hall was blocked by a dozen Sontaran soldiers.

"Good thing it's this way," I slow, pulling him down another hall. Not before the soldiers noticed, however, for they began shooting at us. Just as the TARDIS came into sight, we realized it had been barred off in a cell. I shook at the cell bars in frustration as the Doctor began to sonic the lock. I guess they'd only made one deadlock cell, for it opened at his will.

"You will surrender, Doctor," a Sontaran says, and I realize he only a few feet behind me. I am halfway to the TARDIS, but I have stopped. My body is led once more, and I see that he has shot the bracelet clean off my wrist. The Doctor stopped in the doorway of the TARDIS, looking back at me frantically. The Sontaran was holding me in place- I was captive. Behind us, the Sontarans from down the hall are gathered, their guns in hand.

"Doctor," I plead, realizing that it would be impossible for me to move anywhere but onto my knees. Standing took tremendous effort- I felt like I weighed 850 pounds, and I did, based on the gravity here. He should leave- he is already inside the TARDIS. All he'd have to do is shut the door and he'd be safe. He pressed his lips together, rubbing his neck with his hand. It could be mistaken as an act of anxiety, but he was looking at me when he did it and I knew he was trying to tell me something.

Just when I understood his message, he whipped out his sonic screwdriver and pointed it at the lights. They exploded in sparks and the room went dark. I thrusted my elbow into the back of the Sontaran's neck, knowing that my elbow would have the post power in a strike. Something I learned in a self defense class a few years back. Once he has doubled over, I press forward toward the TARDIS, reaching my hand out toward the Doctor, whose hand is outstretched towards me. Once our hands meet, he pulls me into the TARDIS and I feel light as a feather in comparison to only a moment ago. He slams the door shut and locks it. There are still gunshots outside, but we are laughing as if we were sipping tea over lunch.

"I'm starting to understand why the Sontarans are so stout and strong. The gravity on their planet is insane," I shake my head.

"How does it feel to lose 700 pounds?" he asks.

"Much too easy," I say, narrowing my eyes, "and it was 690 pounds!"

You may think I was arguing in the wrong direction for weight, but think about it. Just take a second to do the math.

"Alright, alright!" The Doctor holds his hands up in surrender, his face still lit up. "Pick a number between 1 and 99."

"What?" I ask, utterly bemused. He hop-steps up to the console and asks once again. "Why?" I press, following him.

"Because, they're going to be the coordinates for our next destination. Pick a number between 1 and 99."

"40"

"Another..."

"22"

"One more..."

"85!"

The TARDIS begins to shake as we take off, on to our next destination. The Doctor and I hoot and holler, filling the TARDIS with the sound of enthusiasm, victory, and a thirst for adventure. When we land, the Doctor rushes to the door.

"Oh, yes!" he grins and steps outside. I follow him, and am taken in by the sight. I was surrounded by big, beautiful, and symmetrical structures made of smooth stone. I gaped at all of the gorgeous architecture and gorgeous pottery. I strode forward into the market, farmers and slaves passing by me as I approached an artisan. The black figures on the orange clay vase were gorgeous, the woman depicted on it with curved almond-shaped eyes.

"One drachma," the artisan said, plump with a wiry black beard.

"What is a drachma?" I ask, running my finger lightly over the details on the vase.

"You must be from very far away if you don't know the currency of Greece!" he scoffed.

"Yes, very far away," I grinned. Ancient Greece! The land of satyrs and gods and monsters- right in its prime. This was going to be exciting.


	7. The Underworld, Part One

"Drachma is the currency they use," the Doctor said, appearing behind me.

"Oh yeah! In Ancient Greece!" I grin.

"You calling me ancient?" the artisan joked.

"Of course not, sir," I laugh. "So, what do you guys do around here?" I look around, seeing only slaves, farmers, a few merchants, and absolutely no women.

"You should leave," he says, "women shouldn't be out of the home, especially now."

"Why?" the Doctor asks curiously, but the artisan ignores him and shuts his curtain, closing his shop.

"Well that was a big help," I say sarcastically, crossing my arms.

"Women around here have been dying, nearly every day another one is bit," a man is leaning against the side of a building with a string instrument.

"Hello! I'm the Doctor" he says, walking over to the musician. "and this is my companion, Jess."

"My name is Orfeo, Doctor. You should take your wife, home. The Artisan was correct, it's dangerous."

"He's not my husband," I smirk, although I didn't take it as an insult. It probably would have been easier if I hadn't said anything, because now the musician was starting to eye me.

"Oi, eyes up front," the Doctor snaps his fingers in Orfeo's face until he redirects his eyes.

"Sorry, it's just, you're dressed so..."

"Back to the women dying," the Doctor commands, "what's been happening to them? Why only women?"

"Weaker targets?" he shrugs. I cross my arms. "Look, I don't know anything about snakes. I just know that if I were you, I would be in my home with the doors locked."

"The snake can unlock doors?" I raise a brow.

"I can see you're not from around here," he says, speaking to the Doctor and ignoring me. "Why don't you and your... woman... come to my home. My wife will cook us dinner." My stomach growled and I looked up at the Doctor, who had already agreed.

We walked through the entrance to find ourselves in an enclosed courtyard with columns supporting the ceiling, an altar in the middle.

"Isidora!" he called, setting his instrument down in a room to the left. A woman entered, clad in a gorgeous dress and woolen garment with shoulder caps. It was exquisite.

"Who do we have here?" she asks, gliding toward us with her henna-red hair pinned back in curls.

"These are our guests," he says, gesturing toward us, "The Doctor and Jess."

"You will be needing a chiton for dinner," she says, leading me toward the stairs.

"A chiton sounds lovely," I say, glancing over my shoulder at the Doctor, who was chatting with Orfeo and wandering the house. She leads me to her bedroom and pulls a dress out for me. "What material is it?"

"Wool," she says, not questioning my seemingly silly question.

"Do you have anything not made of wool? It itches my skin," I say sheepishly. She nods and goes to find a different dress. I'm assuming most are made from wool, because it takes her a minute to return. In her arms was a radiant violet chiton and a gold cord.

"It's gorgeous!" I gasp, running my hand over the smooth fabric and shimmering golden cord.

"It's my finest," she says, laying it on her bed.

"Thank you for letting me wear it," I say as I take off my clothes. "Your children are lovely," I say, "how old are they?"

"Cyrus is second, Draco third," she says, "my first, Kollista, was lost to a bite..."

"I'm sorry," I say sincerely, staying as still as I can while she wraps the cord around my torso.

"I have another on the way," she smiles, "Don't tell Orfeo, but i'm hoping for a girl."

"How wonderful!" My hair had been flowing just past my shoulders, two small braids from the front of my head were pulled back and tied together in the back. It was simple, yet flattering, in my opinion. It was not, however, the style of Ancient Greece. She pulled my hair up in pins, but left the two braids and used them to frame the hairstyle. She held her hand mirror in front of me and I gasped at my reflection. "I look like you," I smile, focusing on her face in the reflection. I expected to see a smile, but her face reflected only horror. She screamed and I dropped the mirror. On the floor in front of us was a snake. I could hear Isidora's feet pounding as she ran away, but I was frozen. It was then that I realized the snake had bitten me already. The door burst open and the Doctor appeared, but it was too late. I fell to the floor, unmoving.

"Jess!" he shouted, pulling his sonic screwdriver out. Isidora returned with a broom and promptly swatted at the beast. It managed to escape out of the room and somewhere away from us. Orfeo ran after it, to make sure it didn't go after the children. He ran the glowing blue light along my body and sighed with relief, "She's still alive."

"I'll send for the medicine man," Isidora said, running from the room. The Doctor, kneeling at my side, lifted my head onto his lap and brushed a stray hair from my face.

"I'm so sorry, Jess," he whispered. I wanted to reassure him, tell him that it wasn't his fault, but my lips were frozen and my eyes stared blankly up at him. I couldn't even blink. "This never should have happened, I was careless."

"Move her onto the bed," a man walked in, setting something down a few feet away. I felt the Doctor shift under me, sliding his arm under my knees and back, lifting me to the bed.

"I'm the Doctor," the Doctor said, hovering beside the bed anxiously.

"I'm the Doctor around here," the man retorted, "they call me Harm."

"You've dealt with bites like this before, then. You know what to do. You can save her."

"I can try," he said, taking my pulse. "I'm sorry, Doctor, but her pulse is very weak."

What? No! I can't die! The Doctor and I have so much ahead of us. I can't leave now!

"You're a man of medicine, of healing. You've treated this before, you know the condition- now save her!"

"We could try to suck the poison out," he suggested, and I instantly felt my skirt lifted, the Doctor sucking at the wound on my ankle. Sucking the poison out, then spitting it on the ground.

He is still speaking, but his words are drifting. Or perhaps I am drifting. Orfeo placed a hand on the Doctor's shoulder, but he kept going. He kept trying to save me. Perhaps it is time for me to go. It would be so easy just to close my eyes.

"She's gone."


	8. The Underworld, Part Two

"No," I couldn't tell what he was saying, or if he was saying anything at all, but the rawness in his voice as he cried out startled everyone in the room. "No!"

"I'm sorry," Orfeo says cautiously, bur sincerely. Isidora places a hand on the Doctor's arm, but he shakes it off and walks to the corner of the room. Orfeo and the medicine man lift my body and take me from the room.

"What are you doing? Bring her back! Bring her back right now!" he is following us, but Isidora stops him.

No, Doctor, don't stop. I'm not dead! Yet, my limbs are limp and I can't move my arm to reach for him. Maybe I am dead, and my soul is just lingering. I've heard stories, theories, of the consciousness lasting longer than the body upon death.

They finally set me down outside, beside a river. No, over the river. I was on a barge, a ceremonial boat built for one. Orfeo placed a coin over each of my eyes.

"My daughter was wearing purple when we sent her down Styx," he muttered, an air of melancholy surrounding him. I felt a tug as they pushed me off down the river. River Styx.

"Awaken," a man says. His voice scares me and for a moment I do nothing. "Awaken," he repeats, and then I realize I can move. I rise to my feet and step out of the boat, my feet hitting the sandy beach. "Go forth, to the gates and you shall be judged."

I exhale, staring into the distance. It is all a haze. I begin to move forward and leave the boat and river behind me without a second glance. The gates are big and beautiful, just like the rest of Ancient Greece had been.

"My name is Jessica Rowling and I have come to be judged," my voice was stronger than I expected. I didn't feel very strong at all. I still felt like the limp girl being carried to the River Styx. I enter the gates and am immersed in darkness, becoming a shadow.

"You're safe," a feminine voice says. Light and delicate. "Come with me."

I feel a hand take mine and I am led into the light. She is small, hardly a woman's height. She still has the round pink cheeks of a child. She is wearing a purple dress with her dark hair pinned up in curls. She could be skipping for all of the happiness upon her face. "Where are we going?"

"To supper, of course!" she giggled. "We're going to have fish and fruit and lots and lots of honey cakes! You're going to love it here- endless fields of purple flowers, rainbows, and sunsets!"

"That sounds lovely," I say softly and follow her. My voice is smaller now, like the girl's. Every time I speak my voice is shrinking, like a wounded animal into the shadows of a cave. "And to drink?" my throat is dry and it hurts to speak. Surely it will be stronger after a drink.

"Wine!" she throws her hands up into the air and we arrive at the table. It is simple, but the food upon it looks amazing. "Here, come sit with me." The table is long and there are other girls there, all happy and full of delicious food.

"What is your name?" I ask as I reach for my glass of wine. It is watered down, but it could still quench my thirst.

"No one has a name here," she said, as if it were the silliest question in the world.

"What do you mean? You must have a name!" my voice is no longer dry and weak, but strong.

"Once you pass through the gates, there is no need for a name," she said automatically. "Pomegranate?"

It is then that I feel something tugging inside me. Recognition? There was something about the Pomegranate that was familiar. This entire situation gave me a sense of dejavu. Not from myself, but from a tale I was once told. The tale of Persephone.

Persephone was the daughter of Demeter, goddess of agriculture. She was the Maiden of Spring, light and kind. She was in the fields gathering flowers when Hades stole her away and took her to the underworld. Demeter was so grieved that she did not tend to the crops of Earth and they withered. Persephone was to be Hades' queen, but because she refused to eat the food of the dead, she was released to her mother, who was overjoyed. At the same time, Hades discovered Persephone had eaten pomegranate in secret. He rose to the surface and reclaimed his bride. Demeter was distraught and once again refused her duties. Zeus, god of sky, brother, and superior to Hades, struck a deal in which Persephone would spend half of her years in the Underworld with Hades and half on Earth with Demeter. Thus, the four seasons were born.

Her time in the Underworld changed her- she no longer could look upon a flower and see the beautiful bloom without seeing a withered stem just beyond it. She was forever robbed of the carefree innocence that so made her the Maiden of Spring. She was forever, the Maiden of the Dead.

"Sorry, what?" I say, realizing she was speaking to me. I had been staring at the pomegranate in her hand.

"I said, would you like some pomegranate?" she looked up at me with her big eyes.

"No," I set my wine down, "I can't."

"Well, why not?" her voice is still kind, but she is confused.

"Because," I wipe a drop of wine from my chin with my thumb. "I can't forget who I am. I have someone waiting for me. Up there, on the surface. You do too," I take her hand into mine and look in her eyes. "Your family is waiting for you."

"You know my family?" she breathes.

"Yes, your mother Isidora, your father Orfeo, your brothers Cyrus and Draco," I am holding her face with my other hand, now, to keep her looking at me, "and you, Kollista."

She tried out her name, "Kollista."

"That's right, go an say it," I encourage her as we step away from our chairs.

"Kollista," she repeats, stronger now. "Kollista!" There is a crashing noise as another girl dropped her glass, spilling the red wine on the table. They are standing, now, staring at us. "I remember now, you're Adonia," she looks at a girl with long wavy hair, "and Sofia," she looks to another girl, holding her fish against her chest as if it were her lifeline, "and you, you're-" The last girl is taller than the others, and far more beautiful. Flowers adorn her hair, pulled back in a graceful design. "Persephone."

"It's a trick, all of this," I announce, "it isn't real. We aren't dead!"

"But what are we, if not dead?" Adonia asks.

"Trapped, that's what we are," Persephone responds. "Once you've eaten the food of the dead, you can never leave."

"You're wrong," I say, "you're wrong. We can leave." I don't know fi the words are true, but if there's one thing i've learned from traveling with the Doctor, is that there's always a way to survive. "Come on, Kollista," she took my hand and we begin to move toward the tunnel that lead to the gates.

"No," Persephone steps out and we stop, "this way." She leads us down another tunnel and I realize Adonia and Sofia hadn't followed us. I couldn't make them, of course, but I wish they had.

"Where does this go? Is it another way out?" I ask, keeping Kollista close.

"You'll see," she says, her chiton billowing behind her as she walked. I glanced down at Kollista, who was completely trusting of me. I just hoped I wasn't leading her into another trap. "Hadeans," she says, stepping to the light of a new room. Occupying it, were over a dozen men with grey skin and eyes of blue fire.

"What do you mean, Hadeans?" I ask skeptically. Could they be where the myth of Hades comes from? Stories have to come from somewhere, and i've already met Persephone. For a moment I wondered if there were other aliens in Greece. Maybe there are Zeusians, too!

"You look parched, have some wine," one of the men offers me a glass, but I just wrap my arm around Kollista. Another brings round a plate of honey cakes. "Hungry?"

Kollista reaches for one, but I step back, taking her with me. "You're alien, aren't you?"

"What are you?" he asks gently, pulling back. I am grateful, for his eyes make me feel like mine are filled with blue fire, too. "How do you know of us?"

"I've seen others like you," I say, "not you exactly, but other aliens. I've travelled to other planets, to other times. I've seen things you could never imagine."

"Impossible," he replies, "you'd have to-"

"Be a Time Lord?" the Doctor stepped out from the shadows of another tunnel, "yeah."

"Doctor!" I grin, I had been right. Thank goodness I was right.

"You've travelled all the way from Olympus, just to settle down here under the surface. Drugging women and keeping them here, why?"

"Our species has become infertile, Doctor. Our women can no longer bear more of our kind. We are just trying to survive."

"By drugging and kidnapping innocent girls?" he does not seem pleased at all. "Get out of here, Jess. Take the girls and get out."

I do not question him- I take off down the tunnel in which we came. When I reach the table with the other girls, they stand from their meal.

"Come with me," I say, "we're getting out of here."

"No," Sofia stands. "We like it here. There is food and laughter."

"But you can't stay down here!" I exclaim, "There are men down there- men with grey skin and blue fire in their eyes-"

"We know," Adonia says, "they take care of us. They aren't monsters."

"You mean, you know? You've known about them and you've chosen to stay?"

"At home, we are nothing. We are slaves. We chose to stay here, just as you might choose."

"But your families, friends. You'll never see the sun again if you stay down here. The food has drugs in it- there are no fields of flowers or rainbows or anything. Just the caves and the shadows. Once the drugs wear off, you'll think differently."

"I remember my name now, I remember my old life. I am thinking clearly," she says, and I believe her. "Anyone wishing to go with you may leave, but I shall stay."

The rest of the girls, save for two, come toward me. A girl, no older than fourteen, takes my other hand. "I want to see my mom," she says with a watery smile. I nod and lead them toward the gates, the little herd of girls following my every move.

"Just follow up the river, it runs upstream, about a half mile down and you're home," I say, pointing out toward the water. The girls begin to walk down the river.

"Aren't you coming with us?" Kollista asked, lingering behind.

"No," I say sadly. She was so sweet.

"That's him isn't he?" She asks, "the man from the dark, he's the one you left when you came to us."

"I can't leave him, Kollista." She hugs me around my waist and places a flower from her hair in mine.

"What is your name?" she asks, loud enough for all of the girls to hear.

"Jess," I smile, "you can tell your mother and father that. Tell them i'm alive and the Doctor and I, we're safe."

"But those men-"

"We're alive and safe, Kollista," I smile reassuringly. She nods and runs to catch up with the other girls. I turn and run back through the gates, my feet pounding in the darkness. I was blind, but I do not meet any obstacles. I reach the Doctor, blue flames lick at the air around him.

"Doctor!" I run to him, through the flames. They are cold and do not hurt my skin. Although I am surprised, I do not stop running until our bodies collide. "It's okay, Doctor, i'm fine. The girls have escaped and we're all alive."

"What they did to those girls- to you-"

"They didn't," I cut him off.

"So they didn't-"

"No."

"So you're still-" I punched his arm. "Right, sorry," he blushed, then grinned. I grinned back. "Well! We've still got the Hadeans to sort out!"

"What do you suggest we do, Doctor?" a Hadean asks. They no longer look menacing, but a species helpless against their biological deficiencies. They needed his help.

"It's a genetic problem, right? Then there's got to be a genetic solution! Now, where's the nearest female Hadean?" One of them steps forward and gestures for the Doctor to follow. We walk down another tunnel to a room filled with female Hadeans. They were gardening some odd crop I had never seen before.

"Ikea," the Hadean says, and one of the woman rises. "This is the Doctor."

"Hello there, Ikea!" the Doctor holds out his hand to the woman. She doesn't seem to know what to do with it, and stares awkwardly at his outstretched hand. "You shake it," he explains. She tentatively takes his hand and shakes it back and forth. "Ikea could you lay down for me please?" She lays down and he begins scanning her with his sonic screwdriver. "Looks like a chemical imbalance in the pituitary gland."

"A chemical imbalance?" the Hadean man asks.

"There's no FSH at all, something else has replaced it," he holds up the sonic screwdriver, reading the results. "Have you had any change in diet? Environment? Anything since the women started showing signs of infertility?"

"We came here, to Earth, and have been living underground since. Could it be that we haven't been exposed to sunlight?"

"It's possible, but I don't see how that would correlate to this issue..." his gaze shifts to the other women. "What about them? What are they doing?"

"Farming," he said, "it's our women's labor."

"These crops, have you always grown them?"

"They're genetically modified to have higher nutrients," he replied, "why?"

"I think we've found our problem," the Doctor stood up and faced the Hadean man.

"That's it? All of our problems are because we modified our crops?"

"Yep! Try organic farming. It's going to be a huge hit, trust me," he winks at me knowingly.


	9. The Hunger Games, Part One

The TARDIS materializes in a forest beside a stream and the Doctor steps out enthusiastically, breathing in the fresh air. "What are you doing?" I ask as he takes a handful of dirt and dumps it in his mouth. I laugh as he spits it out, trying to get rid of the taste.

"Definitely on Earth," he says with the expression of someone who had just tasted spoiled milk.

"You can tell just from tasting earth?" I ask curiously.

"That's how I can tell if it's Earth or not! By the earth," he stands up, scanning the sky with his sonic screwdriver, examining the results. "Well that's why we had a bit of turbulence, there's a force field surrounding this place."

"Sure it wasn't just your bad driving?" I ask, receiving a playful scowl in return. I raise my hands up, resigning, but find myself sauntering away in triumph. I loved teasing him. "So... what time period are we in?"

"After your time for certain," he sniffs in the air, "maybe the 24th century?"

There is a noise, a movement, in the corner of my eye and we both stop short. "Is someone there?" I ask as the Doctor takes a step towards it, but freezes when he sees the arrow aimed straight at him. "Don't shoot!" I exclaim automatically. The Doctor holds up his hands as a sign of peace.

"You don't have to be scared," he coaxes, "I won't hurt you." Her face remains hard, her lips pressed in a tight line, her skin coated in dirt and blood.

"You poor child, what's happened to you?" I whisper like a prayer.

"Like you don't know," she bites, aiming at me, now.

The Doctor holds his hand out toward the bow, shining silver despite the state of its bearer, "there's no need for weapons. We're unarmed."

"What about her?" she says, moving to aim at me. My hands fly up in the air to show her I have no weapon.

"She won't be any trouble," the Doctor says, "but if you hurt her, I will be."

"Katniss, it's okay," a boy appears at her side, his hand on her shoulder. I thought it was to reassure her, but then I saw his leg was injured. She lowered her bow and scanned the shadows of the woods.

"Get inside," she says, dipping into the shadows of the cave. The boy motions for us to come in. His smile is reassuring and kind- trustworthy. He offers me his hand as a gesture, and I take it, but I do not put any pressure of my weight on him as I climb into the cave for fear of causing him pain from his injury.

"We could fix your leg, you know. Back in the TARDIS, I have medical supplies," the Doctor says, stepping into the dark cave.

"So it's real? The blue box?" Peeta says, "and you're really him? The Doctor?"

"That's a fairytale," Katniss turns to him, her back to us, "A myth. A Legend. Nothing more."

"Then how do you explain them? How could they have gotten in here if it isn't true?"

She speaks in a low voice, "that's what they do when they're bored- they send mutts to track us down and draw us out of hiding."

"Uh, we can hear you," I say, "and we're offended."

"I've been called worse," the Doctor shrugs. "So, why don't you come back to the TARDIS with us and you can tell us all about this "Capitol" while we take a look at his leg, hm?"

They must have no other choice, for even with the girl's distrust, they follow us without another word. "Need any help?" I ask the boy.

"Peeta," he smiles and I let him drape his arm over my shoulder for support. Katniss is close at his side, her fingers still clutched around her bow as if something was going to jump out from the woods and attack.

"My name's Jess," I introduce, "so why are you two hiding in a cave? Shouldn't you be in school or something?"

"Hardly," he laughs. It seems natural on his face, despite the mud caked to his skin and the dried blood in his hair. "Tributes don't have the luxury of going to school." It was then that I learned of the horrors of their world- what my world had become. We had landed in the middle of the Hunger Games, an event the new government holds to display their power. They pit children against each other in a fight to the death, until one tribute, the victor, remains. By the time we reach the TARDIS, I am crying and the Doctor has taken my place in helping Peeta inside the TARDIS.

"How do they choose children for these Games? How could anyone choose?" my voice is cracking as I imagine Katniss shooting a silver arrow into another child's heart.

"The Reaping: they draw our names from a lottery. Our names are entered once each year, but even more often if you opt to exchange an entry for more supplies, which many of us do in my District, as there is hardly any food," Katniss is speaking now, her voice hard and sharp like a blade as she spoke about the Reaping. "My sister, Prim, is only 12. Her name was drawn and I volunteered to take her place."

"Twelve?" the Doctor is furious. He had been upset and angered by the whole concept, but at the mention of the young age, he was put over the edge. He is running his hand through his hair, as he always does when he is under the stress of racing thoughts and a cruel situation. I leave to get a clean cloth for Peeta's wound, as the one I had been using was so filthy it had turned brown all over.

The Doctor takes the clean cloth and finishes cleaning the wound before applying ointment and dressing it in a bandage. "There! Good as new, well not new, but better than before! Not the best, though. You will feel some pain later. Well, a lot of pain. But it'll heal. Not completely, but..."

"Doctor," I cut him off. Truthfully, I loved it when he corrected himself. Saved me the trouble. Not that I loved him, well, you know what I mean.

"We're going to take down the Capitol," The Doctor composed himself and stood with one hand on the console. "Allonsy!"


	10. The Hunger Games, Part Two

"Wait!" Katniss cries. The Doctor's hand freezes on the lever and he turns. "You should leave us."

"What? We can't leave you out there- you'll die!" I exclaim.

"We need a distraction so that you can, well, stop the Capitol. We'll make sure they can't take their eyes off of us," she is determined, a fire in her grey eyes.

"Alright," the Doctor says, "we'll come back for you and the other tributes when we can. If anything goes wrong-"

"We'll take care of each other- always have," Peeta smiles, his hand on Katniss' shoulder for support. She tugs his pant leg over his bandages so they are hidden. "Thank you both for your help."

"Good luck!" Katniss calls over her shoulder as they step out of the TARDIS. I smile, knowing their minds are about to be blown as the TARDIS dematerializes before their eyes. He pulls the screen towards him and analyzes it before pushing it back.

"This should be exciting!" the Doctor exclaims, jumping off of the stairs and walking toward the closet. He chooses a dress for me and leaves me to change. I walk out in a sheer dress with green tints, the curtain of it moving from translucent to a solid red petal, long and draping around my legs. My back is bare, aside from the translucent green fabric that makes me look an unnatural color, like my body is the stalk of a broccoli floret. While I appreciate the delicate nature of the petals in the skirt, and the fact that they feel alive, I still feel out of place in my new skin.

"Why am I dressed like a supermodel?" I say flatly as I apply an appropriately overdramatic layer of makeup on my face. "Isn't the point to blend in?" I have electrifying green eyeshadow and glitter on my eyelashes. My skin is unnaturally smooth from all of the foundation I have put on, and my cheeks have an excessive amount of blush. I finish it off by putting on gold-embroidered gloves.

"That's what people wear in the Capitol," the Doctor says from the other side of the door. "Can I come in?"

"Don't laugh," I warn him as he enters. He looks me up and down and I feel as if the excessive blush I put on my face was unnecessary, and my face is probably beet red now.

"You can't wear those shoes in the Capitol," he says, picking up a pair of platforms without heels. Literally.

"I can't wear those- they're broken!"

"The first pair Alexander McQueen designed," he says, holding them out, "gave them to me the day I met him. Said I inspired a new design." I narrow my eyes suspiciously, unconvinced that they were stable, but put them on anyway. I am surprised when I do not fall, but I do not like the uneasy feeling I get when wearing them. "You're as tall as me, now," he smiles.

"Keep in mind, I can squash you like a bug in these," I say, before faltering in my step. I nearly twisted my ankle, but the Doctor grabbed my arm and held me steady. "Is this really how they dress?"

"See for yourself!" he says, leading me to the screen in the console room. The people on the screen were unbelievably ridiculous. Not only do they have dyed and wigged hair, but some of them have even dyed their skin. The clothing was ridiculous, like stage clothes for a comedy or a child's drawing.

"Look at the men, Doctor! You won't fit in like that!" I exclaim. He stares at me, not registering what it means.

"Oh, no! No no no no! I am not wearing anything like that!" his eyes wide.

"Then i'm not wearing this!" I smirk. Check mate.

"Alright, i'll put on... something," he comes back with a few random items. A red handkerchief that matched his red shoes, a stick of celery, a long striped scarf, and a bow tie.

"Which one?" he says, holding them out for me to look at.

"Definitely the bow tie," I smirk, taking it from his hand and fastening it around his collar in place of his usual tie.

"How do I look?" he asks.

"Very cool," I smile warmly. "Now wait here while I go put on something a bit more sensible."

"Women," he mumbled, "can never make their mind up about clothes."

"Oi! I heard that!" I shout as I walk away. The shoes are first to go, soon to be replaced by nice comfortable converse. I decide the dress is actually kind of cool, so I keep it. My shoes don't match, but I don't care. Considering how the people of the Capitol dressed, all mismatched and outlandish, I don't think they would either.

"Look at you- you look more like you now," the Doctor smiles. "Very sexy."

"Really?" I look down at the shimmering sheer dress. It felt like silk against my legs. "Thanks!"

"Miss Rowling," he offers his arm to me.

"Doctor," I mimic his proper tone, but wish he had a last name for me to call him. He leads me out of the TARDIS and into the busy street full of laughably colorful people. They look so inhuman I could have mistaken them for an alien race.

"We're gone not five minutes and they're snogging already," the Doctor says, looking up at a giant screen overhead. The screen is broadcasting the Games and is focused in on Katniss and Peeta. "Going a bit over the top," he was referring to their promise to distract the Capitol.

"I don't think they mind," I say and we resume moving through the crowd, finally coming to the doors.

"Hello," he says, flashing his psychic paper, "President Snow sent us."

"Of course," he moves to let us pass through, even opening the door for us. I wonder who he thinks we are?

"It's crazy."

"What?" the Doctor raises a brow at me.

"Hm?" I hadn't noticed I had said that aloud. "Oh, I was just thinking how crazy it is that you can just-" I take his psychic paper and hold it up, mimicking his expression.

"I don't look like that!" he exclaims, "Do I?"

"Well..." I mimic him again, smiling. We come to a room with a hologram of the arena in the middle. The room is pristine and focused on the hologram, the gamemakers all at computers, controlling the Games.

"Who are you?" a man at the door asks us.

"The name's John Smith, and this is Jessica Rowling," he says in his best Capitol accent, flashing the psychic paper. "We're here to make sure everything is running smoothly.

"Of course, feel free," he says, allowing us to pass through. The Doctor begins examining different components on the computers, even licking one of them.

"Standard procedure," I say in my best Capitol accent to the man standing closes to me, who is eyeing the Doctor oddly. "We'll need a sample of the technology for testing, too." The man doesn't seem pleased, but he leaves and returns with a memory block, little wires visible beneath the translucent red button. "Thank you," I say and walk over to the Doctor, who is eyeing the hologram suspiciously. "Let's go."

I can tell he wanted to keep snooping, but he didn't question me. When we are outside, I wait until the door is shut. "I hit the jackpot," I say, holding out the memory block. I watch as his eyes grow big with delight.

"Jess, you're brilliant!" he grins. We head back to the TARDIS and he begins scanning the technology for its origin. "Lekaki Merah."

"Leka- what?" I ask for clarification.

"Lekaki Merah," the Doctor repeats. "Oh, it's brilliant of them. Coming here to the Capitol where they can blend in. The perfect hiding place- in plain sight."

"In plain sight?" I ask, "So they look human?"

"Take a look around, Jess. Everyone following crazy fashion trends with bright colors. When they saw a Lekian with bright red skin they just saw it as a trend and dyed their skin too!"

"So those people in the street, they're Lekian?"

"Some of them, anyway," the Doctor says. "The question is, what are they doing here?"

"Killing children," I say bitterly. The reminder fills the Doctor with burning hatred. "I mean, they probably have an ulterior motive or something, screwing with Earth's timeline."

"Actually, time isn't a strict progression of cause to effect, but from a non-linear, non-subjective viewpoint - it's more like a big ball of wibbly wobbly... time-y wimey... stuff."

"Right, of course, but they can't just be wanting to swoop in and kill children. If they did, they could just do it themselves. Why try to blend in with the crowd?"

"I've never encountered the Lekians for long enough to figure out their drives, but from what i've seen today, they have a sick sense of entertainment."

"Maybe that's it," I suggest, "maybe they got bored on their planet and have colonized on others and created these savage games. Makes sense, considering they televise every gory moment in the Capitol and nobody thinks twice about it."

"Well then, it's our job to put a stop to it," he stands, the memory block sitting in his hand. "Let's bring down the government," he grins at me, bringing his fist down on the memory block. Before I could even blink, he was gone. Poof- right out of thin air. The memory block tumbled to the ground.

"Doctor?" I say tentatively. "DOCTOR?!" But he is gone. Not invisible, not hiding, but gone.


	11. The Hunger Games, Part Three

With the Doctor gone to who-knows-where, I was left with the task of bringing down the Capitol. How? Well, I happened to still have possession of the Doctor's psychic paper. In the hologram before me were the last two tributes: Katniss and Peeta.

"There has been a change of plans," the man with the fabulously trimmed beard says into a microphone. "The previous revision allowing for two Victors from the same district has been revoked."

I watch Peeta and Katniss, heartbroken on the screen. They were going to be forced to kill one another? "Unacceptable." I march over to the man in charge, who seemed to be named Seneca, and demanded his attention.

"Who gave you permission to revoke the amendment?" I demand.

"President Snow gave the orders, Ma'am. We were to narrow down the competition to the star-crossed lovers. It's been great for ratings," I analyze his eyes and find that he does not enjoy this, he is simply following orders. He is not Lekian.

"Well I come from a higher authority," I flash the psychic paper, "and I demand you allow two Victors."

"Stop! Stop!" he shouts into the microphone. Peeta and Katniss were just about to commit suicide. "Ladies and gentlemen, may I present the winners of the 74th annual Hunger Games!"

When Peeta and Katniss hug in relief, I know I have saved them. I watch as they are swept up in a helicopter and, presumably, taken to get medical treatment. I turn to Seneca with a grave look on my face akin to that of the Doctor's. "Will you accompany me to see President Snow, Seneca?"

Seneca accompanies me, leading me, to see President Snow. I try to hide the fact I have no idea where I am going, which is my main motive for asking him to come along. "You're not in trouble," I assure him when I see his expression, "unless you call me Ma'am again." He takes me to the large double doors which, i'm assuming, are to President Snow's room. I am surprised when they lead to a rose garden outdoors. "Thank you, you may leave," I nod politely at him before entering the garden. The sickly sweet smell is overwhelming.

"And who might you be?" a voice asks. I turn and see a man with white hair snipping and trimming at a bush of white roses.

"Someone you should be very scared of," I flash my psychic paper at him. When he makes an expression akin to fear, I know he is human and not Lekian. That, and his skin is of a normal color. "I am here on behalf of the Shadow Proclamation," I say, taking the Doctor's advice into consideration. He always improvises his way out of things, and he has mentioned the Shadow Proclamation in many a threats.

"The Shadow what?" he asks again.

"You may want to call for your master, President Snow," I whisper dangerously. "Best let the Lekians deal with this matter." He straightens at the mention of Lekians and I know I've got him. A red man steps out from behind a tall bush, stepping toward us.

"You're from the Shadow Proclamation?" he asks.

"You bet I am, and you're in big trouble, Beet Brain. You've broken Article 54.8 and have got a lot of explaining to do if you want to keep your head." I had no idea if that was the correct article, or even what article to cite, but I'm betting that he doesn't know them all either, or he wouldn't be here. I am surprised when he does not retaliate in a menacing manner. I must be pretty good at being menacing myself.

"I'm just following orders," he insisted. "The Great Merah sent me here."

"I'd like to have a word with this Great Merah character," I insist. "Where is he?"

"He is at the Intergalactic Games," he responded. "I will show you." I follow him to a computer inside where he projects the image of a room similar to the one Seneca worked in. Within the projection was another hologram, one they were viewing, which was of the Doctor running over an icy surface, another alien hot on his tail. My eyes widen as I realize by pushing that button he was transported into a Hunger Games, but one with other aliens.

"Take me there," I demand, "take me to the Intergalactic Games."

Once I am teleported to the Intergalactic Games headquarters, I realize there is not a human in sight. The entire staff was Lekian.

"Who are you?" a man asks.

"I am here on behalf of the Shadow Proclamation to speak to the Great Merah," I say calmly, although being surrounded by Lekian while impersonating a fictional person of power wasn't very comforting. If I slipped up even a little, I was completely screwed. The Doctor couldn't save me.

"Shadow Proclamation, you say?" a man steps forward.

"Yes," I pull out the psychic paper and flash it quickly, "and my first order is to release that man!" I point to the hologram version of the Doctor.

"The only way out is to win," he laughs, "or to be replaced."

"Very well, then replace him," I say, holding my chin up. "So I can speak to him in good council." He complies and takes me to a dual control system. I stand on one disc and he stands on the other.

"Just push that button- i'll be sent into the arena and he shall take my place here," he instructs. I realize too late that it is a trap, that the memory block was merely a component of this machine I was activating. In the blink of an eye, I am in the middle of Antarctica, or some planet resembling such. It is then that I see a Cyberman marching toward me, aiming straight at my head. I duck and he misses, hitting a bit of ice instead. At least i'd gotten the Doctor out of this mess. He would fair better trying to solve all of this from in the control room than here, where he had no chance to think for he must run and hide every waking moment. I, however, had the endurance for this.I am suddenly overwhelmingly glad I had changed into my normal shoes. Although the ice is slippery, I manage to dodge another attack and hide behind an ice bank. Unfortunately, I am not the only one hiding there. A lizard-woman is holding a gun inches from my face.

"You're not the Doctor," she hisses, "what did you do to him?"

"I transported him out of here," I gulp, "I'm Jess, his companion."

"Any friend of the Doctor's is a friend of mine," she says, drawing her gun back.

"That Cyberman's getting closer," I say, the footsteps growing heavier. "Don't suppose you could shoot it with that thing?"

"It can only damage him. Is that real gold?" she asks, looking down at my gloves.

"Yeah, I think. Why? You from Fashion Weekly?" I say sarcastically. This was no time to talk about fashion.

"Gold is the Cybermen's weakness. You can destroy him," she says.

"What? But how am I supposed to do that?" I say, "He'll shoot me the moment I stand!"

"I'll distract him," she says, lunging to the side. I take a deep breath and leap to my feet. The Cyberman was only a couple of feet away and I was unnoticed. I let out a cry and swing my fist at him, colliding with the cool hard metal of his shoulder. He starts to disintegrate before my eyes, but I can hardly tell, for I am overwhelmed by the pain shooting up my arm. "Well you didn't have to punch him! Just a touch would do."

"Now you tell me," I groan, holding my injured hand gingerly.

"Thought it was obvious," she shrugged. "Come on, we've got to get to somewhere warmer before your skin turns to ice." I look down and see that not only was I covered in goosebumps, but my skin was tinged blue.

"Good idea," I agree and follow her. Within minutes we encounter a Dalek and we are running faster than ever before. "We have to hide!" I say, spotting a forest terrain approaching, "in there! It can't follow!" The terrain changes quicker than seems possible, and we are suddenly in a dense forest. "I can't see a thing in here," I whisper through the darkness.

"Good, that means the Dalek can't either," she assures me as we push and weave through the brush.

I nod, "There's no room for it to move in here. It would have to hover above the trees, but even then it can't see down through them."

"The shadows!" she calls out, and I stop. I can no longer see her.

"Madame Vastra!" I call out, "Are you there?" She steps forward into a small stream of light, her body a mere skeleton. I scream as her bones fall to the ground. The opaque shadows from behind her are creeping around the beam of light and toward me. I run, climbing the first tree I can find with a low branch. I scramble my way to the top, toward that promising light ahead of me. I finally reach the top, but when my head pops out into the light, I come face-to-eyestalk with a Dalek.

EXTERMINATE.

There is a flash of light and I am in the Doctor's arms, "am I dead?" If I was dead, would that mean the Doctor had died too? Or am I dreaming him up?

The doctor pulls back from me, holding my face in his hands, "you are very much alive."

"The Lekians," I ask, wanting to know if he had succeeded, "The Games."

"The Intergalactic Games are cancelled," he says, "the Lekians won't mess with Earth anymore either."


	12. Midnight Rayne, Part One

"I know a lovely little airless planet in the system of star Xion," the Doctor says, turning knobs on the controls.

"Airless?" I ask, taken aback. "How can we visit an airless planet? Won't we suffocate?"

"No, don't be silly. Humans have been colonized there for centuries! Well, depending on when you want to be there, anyway."

"And what would we do on an airless planet? How would we even-?"

"Oh, you just leave that to me, Jess," he grins, pulling the final lever. I grab onto the rail and we lurch through the vortex. We land with a small jerk and the Doctor goes running to the door. I follow a little less enthusiastically and am surprised when I step out into a grand lobby. "Welcome to Leisure Palace Company's Midnight Resort!" the Doctor opened his arms wide with a grin equally as wide.

"This is amazing!" I laugh at the excessive luxury of the place. It looked like the posh hotels mum and I would sometimes stay at, only much more... muchier.

"Well... yeah, yeah it is," the Doctor gives me a lopsided grin.

"We're really going to stay here?" I question, knowing he isn't one to pay.

"Well, in the TARDIS..."

"Cheapskate," I mumble.

"Oi! I resent that," he points accusingly at me.

"Right, well, what first? Pool? Spa? Restaurant? Shop?"

"Oh come on, you can do better than that," he says, grabbing a random brochure from the stand. "Maybe dinner at an anti-gravity restaurant followed by a mountain made of sapphires?"

"A mountain made of sapphire?!" I run forward and look over his shoulder at the brochure.

"No, a mountain of sapphires. Millions of tiny crystals," he reads. "Only a four hour trip, too."

"Only?" I scoff. "Maybe for a Time Lord that's nothing, but for a human that's torture!"

"Oh, come on, Jess. We can keep each other company!"

"Alright," I give in, "I could use a bite to eat." He practically leaps for joy, as if he were a dog and I had just brought home a chew toy. We approach two sealed doors guarded by a young man. A waiter, by the looks of it.

"Table for two, please," the Doctor tells the waiter. He turns and places his hand on the doors, which open automatically at his touch. I am surprised to see them open from the bottom, sliding upwards. He leans into it and moves under the doors. We slowly rise into the air and I instinctively wave my arms around like an idiot before realizing that we were supposed to float in the air. It isn't like falling, it's like floating in a pool. Only, you move on multiple axes instead of one.

The Doctor and I sit at a table set for two, although I have no clue how the blue wine glasses and silverware stay at the table. "Anything to drink, sir?" the waiter asked.

"Two glasses of your finest wine," the Doctor says, turning to me as he leaves. "What do you think?"

"It's spectacular!" I exclaim, my body weightless.

"A bit of a contrast from Sontar, eh?" he asks with a cheeky expression.

"You could say that," We had been on the planet Sontar not too long ago, its gravity 6x the amount on earth. To put that into perspective, I weighed 850 pounds on Sontar and exactly zero in this restaurant.

The waiter returned with a bottle of wine as red as blood, filling our glasses with the bubbling liquid. I took a sip and found it smooth, in spite of its bubbling exterior.

"A bit flat for my taste," the Doctor says, fastening his bib.

"Are you kidding?" I say, taking another sip, longer this time, before putting on my bib. Our food comes and I see that it is two plates of a rich purple pasta, topped with the strangest of vegetables. It's similar to an eggplant, but less squid-like and crunchy instead of slimy. It was actually much more appealing than the food I've eaten in my own time on my own planet. "Can I take some to go?"

Afterward, we head for the shuttle busses. I practically rolled there, I was so full. The Doctor flashed his psychic paper and we entered without a hitch, taking seats at the front of the bus.

"Complimentary headphones, slippers, earplugs, juice, and peanuts," the hostess hands the Doctor doubles of everything. He, in turn, passes them to me. "I must warn you, some products may contain nuts."

"That'll be the peanuts," the Doctor says.

"Enjoy your trip," she smiles, ignoring his cheek. I smirk, dividing our rations, although I doubted i'd use half of them.

"Can't wait! Allonsy!" the Doctor exclaims.

"Sorry?" she asks, cocking her head to the side.

"It's French, for let's go!"

"Fascinating," she says, moving on to the next passenger, repeating the same speech as she handed out the complimentary items.

"Sorry about that. Last time I was here, the service was much better," the Doctor whispers.

"What do you mean?" I ask, "You've been here before?"

"Once," he said distantly, "with Donna."

He'd never spoken of anyone else he'd travelled with. This was the first. "Donna... she was...?"

"My companion, before you," he didn't look at me. Not at all.

"What happened to her?" I asked, although I was scared to hear the answer.

"Oh, she's fine! Living off in 21st century London as we speak," he says, taking on his usual enthusiastic tone as he turned to me.

"How many have you had?" I asked, "Companions, I mean."

"Well... depends on how you define companion..." I was stupid to think I was the only one- that I was special. Of course he's had other companions, he's over 900 years old. Worse, he'd taken Donna here, where he'd taken me. "I didn't take her here, if that's what you're getting at."

"Bit of a lovers' quarrel?" the man behind us says. "Sorry, didn't mean to intrude- i'm Hobbes. Professor Winfold Hobbes."

"Professor?" the Doctor hops onto his knees, facing him.

"Doctor!" he exclaims, "Never thought i'd see you again!"

"Great to see you again, Professor! This is my companion, Jess. Jess, this is Professor Hobbes!"

"Pleasure," I say with pursed lips.

"Where's Dee Dee?" he asks him.

"Oh, she's against all this- populating Midnight. Ever since that time, she's been advocating for this place being shut down, but I couldn't stay away. You couldn't keep away, either, could you, Doctor?"

"What's he talking about, Doctor?" I ask, looking at him only to find the most terrifying expression.

"Fasten your seat belts, we're about to take off."

The Doctor sat back down and we fastened our seat belts in silence.

"He will knock four times," the Doctor said.

"Sorry?" it was such a random thing to say.

"There is a prophecy. He will knock four times. Then..."

"Then?" I cock my head to the side, "You mean you'll die?"

"Part of me wishes it would happen sooner," he closes his eyes.

"You can regenerate, though," I said, "you told me once, that when you die you come back."

"Every time I regenerate I die, Jess. I die and it hurts. Then some other man goes sauntering away and I'm just a memory."

"But you can't die, Doctor! Think of all those mysteries out there, adventures, people who need you!"

"I'm old. I'm tired."

"Oh, you're not that old," I roll my eyes.

"I'm over 900 years old, Jess. I've suffered things you can't imagine, sorrows beyond belief."

"But think of all the good things, Doctor. All the people you've helped. Aren't they worth it?" He seems to be pondering this. "Besides, if you died then you'd be leaving me to have all those adventures by myself, wouldn't you, old man?" I nudge him, and he smiles at this.

"Oi, I resent that," he looks at me and I know everything is alright. "The Professor was right, Jess. There's a mystery on this planet and I can't stand not solving it before..."

"Oi," I mimic him, "shut it, old man. You're not dying on my watch." He really wasn't that old physically, but I still liked teasing him about it, knowing his real age.

"Shut that racket off before I shut it myself?" a woman in the back barks. I turn to see that she isn't nearly as old as she sounded. She was older than I, in her mid 20's, and had long dark brown hair and white bangs that almost hid her eyes, which were two different colors.

"Sorry," another girl said in an American accent, she seemed much more approachable. She looked about my age, if not younger. She had long dirty blonde hair and blue eyes hidden behind glasses.

I looked from the second girl, to the first, wondering if they were acquainted. The woman with the eyes spotted me staring and pulled her sunglasses down, which were atop her head, over her eyes.

"So," I turn to the Professor, "your research. How is it coming?"

"Last I saw the Doctor, I was searching for the Lost Moon of Poosh, but I find Midnight much more fascinating-"

"If you were smart, you'd stay away," the Doctor says.

"Could say the same to you, Doctor," he retorts. "We're not so different, you and I."

"Someone needs to tell me exactly what happened the last time you two were on Midnight. Tell me right now," I demanded firmly.

"Last time we were on Midnight, something attacked our shuttle," the Doctor said in a low voice. "It possessed one of the passengers, Sky, and she began copying our words, then she grew more powerful. She was able to paralyze me and stole my voice. Almost got me thrown out of the bus, but before that could happen, the hostess launched Sky and herself out into the atmosphere."

"She sacrificed herself," I say sadly. "And you never found out what it was?"

"No," the Doctor is staring out again.

The shuttle stops moving.


	13. Midnight Rayne, Part Two

The hostess reappears with a rack full of suits.

"Please unfasten your seat belts and put on your protective gear," she says in a surprisingly cheerful tone. She, herself, is going to wear one.

"What are those for?" I ask, confused.

"Didn't you read the brochure? We're the first expedition onto the planet's surface. Isn't it exciting?" the hostess says gleefully. "Ladies in the back of the shuttle, gentlemen in the front." I grab a suit and move to the back, placing me only feet from the two women from before. A curtain drops behind me and we are separated from the front of the shuttle.

"My name's Jess. Jessica Rowling," I say warmly.

"Emily, but you can call me Emi," the kind woman says. We look expectantly at the girl with the eyes.

"Rayne," she says, not looking at us. Even when she was changing, she kept her sunglasses on.

"Rayne? Just Rayne?" I can tell she is glaring, even though I can't see her eyes.

"Don't like questions," she replies bluntly.

"What kind of questions?" I raise a brow. She stops and looks at me for a moment.

"Annoying questions. Persistent questions. Stupid questions."

"About your eyes?" I clarify.

"Yes," she says, finally taking them off and placing her helmet on, turning a knob to tilt the glass.

"Alright," I shrug and turn to Emi, "so what brings you to Midnight?"

"I'm an artist," she replies, "I wanted a little inspiration. Thought a marvel like Midnight would help. What about you?"

"I'm here with my, er, companion," I say. If he can call me his companion, I don't see why I can't call him mine.

"All set over here!" the Doctor calls out. I turn to the Hostess, who presses a button and draws the curtain back.

"You mean him?" Emi whispers to me.

"Come on, Jess!" he calls to me. I move to the front and the other women follow.

"He's cute," Emi whispers.

"Shhh," I say as we draw closer, but the Doctor is oblivious.

"Meet back at the ship in fifteen. The suits will collapse in on your after that, so don't be late!" she chirps. "Travel in pairs at all times and don't get too close to the waterfall. Enjoy Midnight, everyone!" She herds us, two by two, into a separate chamber and launches us onto the surface of Midnight. The Doctor and I are first, and we stand on the launch pad, facing the infinite before us.

"Scared?" he asked, raising his left brow.

"No, of course not!" I say a bit too quickly.

"Then why are you holding my hand?" he asked, and I look down to see we were, in fact, holding hands.

"I thought you were holding my hand."

"You face down threats beyond this world, yet you're scared of a little excursion on a planet made of diamonds."

"Race you to the waterfall, then," I dare him with a cheeky grin. I will not be scared. He grins and we are propelled through the atmosphere, landing on a pile of smoothed over crystals. I take off in a sprint, not looking back.

"Other way!" the Doctor's voice calls after me. I skid to a stop, only for him to zip past me.

"Cheater!" I shout after him. When I reach the waterfall, I stop to catch my breath. I am standing on sapphires, millions of little jewels. One of them winks at me, and I am so startled I fall on my bum.

"I win!" the Doctor shouts, thrusting his hands in the air in triumph.

"It winked at me!" I exclaim madly, stepping away from it.

"What?" the Doctor asked.

"The sapphire! It just winked!"

"Trick of the light," the Doctor said.

"But it winked!" I say, watching as Rayne picked it up.

"What are you talking about?" Emi comes over, "jewels can't wink."

"No shit," Rayne says, turning it over in her hand. The Doctor comes over and crouches by her, picking up a handful of jewels and scanning it with his sonic screwdriver.

"What is it, Doctor?" I ask, stepping closer.

"We have five minutes," Emi says, "better head back."

"It's alive," he says, staring at the readings.

"We need to leave," Emi persists, but Rayne is transfixed.

"Rayne?" The Doctor asks, crouching beside her. "Can you hear me?" Her eyes are staring at the jewel, reflecting the same blue back into her eyes.

"Something's wrong," I say shakily, but he is just as fixed on Rayne as she is on the jewel.

"Rayne, if you can hear me, blink once. If you hear me, but can't move, blink twice," he says slowly as he lifts her sunglasses. She doesn't blink.

"Jess, get back to the ship. Emi, how much time do we have left?"

"Maybe three minutes," she says, sounding urgent, but I can't leave. Not even if I wanted to.

"I said go, Jess!" the Doctor shouts and I feel Emi's hand on my arm, but I don't move. I can't. He stands and turns to look me in the eyes. He sees something in them and is concerned. "It's happening to you, too."

"What's happening to me?" I ask, my voice catching. I can't even move my eyes.

"Your eyes are changing color. They're becoming sapphire," he turns to Rayne. "You need to get her out of here NOW."

"Doctor," I say, my voice trembling. I had been paralyzed when we were in Ancient Greece and I didn't want that to ever happen again.

"Listen to me, you need to close your eyes." I can't see him, but I can feel him. His hands are on my face and he kisses my forehead. "It'll be alright, just keep your eyes closed until you get back to the shuttle."

"What about you?" I ask, feeling Emi's hand on my arm as she led me away. "Doctor!"

"It'll be alright," Emi's voice is next to me as our feet pound on the jeweled surface of Midnight, "Just hold on." I hear the door slide open and we step inside. The air lock seals and Emi takes her helmet off. I take this as a sign that we're safe, and open my eyes. Everyone is back except the Doctor and Rayne.

"How much time does he have?" I ask Emi.

"Not long... two minutes, tops," she looks pitifully at me.

Determined, I enter the pilot's room unannounced. "Oi, driver, my friend's still out there. Can you drive closer?"

"We can't stray from the path, ma'am. It's against the rules."

"Screw the rules!" I grab him the the collar, "and don't call me ma'am!" I take his place and begin pressing buttons.

"What are you doing?" he exclaims.

"Pressing buttons, what does it look like?" the shuttle suddenly lurches forward. I grab the steering handles and move us toward the waterfalls. I can see the Doctor and Star, now. She is holding something in her hand, the jewel from before. Less than a minute, now. "How do I stop this thing?" I ask the pilot, who seems to be sick to his stomach from my poor driving.

"That lever there," he says, "let me do it. Please."

"Sorry, can't trust someone who won't break the rules," I say, pulling the lever down. We stop instantly, making an awkward noise as we do. The Doctor and Rayne look at at me and I wave cheerfully, but stop when I realize her helmet is off. "How is that possible?" I gasp. The Doctor runs toward the shuttle and leaps onto the platform.

"What happened? Where's Rayne?" Emi asks. The Doctor does not stop to respond, but instead runs to the front.

"Get us out of here. Now," the Doctor says urgently.

"Ray-?" I am cut off.

Knock.

There's someone at the platform.

Knock.

I look back at the door.

Knock.

"Three knocks is all you're getting!" I press the accelerator and we take off, leaving Rayne and the sapphires behind.

"I hate to admit it, but I think you should stick to driving the TARDIS," the Doctor jests, regaining his balance.

"What happened to her?" I ask solemnly. When he answers, his joking tone is gone.

"They were wrong, the humans. There is life here- and it wants its planet back, one way or another," then he turns to talk to the hostess, probably to make sure that she stops the excursions for the rest of the day until he can get a hold of whoever's in charge and tell them that they need to leave this planet for good.

"Can I drive now? Please," the pilot asks cautiously, as if I might snap at him or jerk the shuttle.

"Of course," I force a smile, letting him take his place as the driver once more.

"It's back, isn't it, Doctor?" the Professor asks.

"It never left."


	14. The Next Doctor, Part One

"So this prophecy, that's what you've been running from," I say as if it were any conversation topic. "He will knock four times."

"I run from a lot of things," he said, manning the TARDIS controls.

"I used to go running every morning. I used to wish the wind would lift me up into the sky," I look at him, "and it did."

He peeked out from behind the console and his once forlorn face now shone with a fresh smile. "Into the sky it is, Miss Rowling!"

"Don't call me that," I say before I could think. He stops short, but then seems to realize it is because that is what James called me. "I need a word for total screaming genius that sounds modest and a tiny bit sexy..."

"Sorry, the name 'Doctor' is already taken." I suppress a smile, but he catches it.

"Why don't you surprise me?" With that, we take off into the stars.

The TARDIS materializes under a bridge in the snow. The Doctor opens the door and looks about with a smile. I pull my leather jacket tightly around myself at the sight of snow. We walked side by side down a busy market street. The stalls are decked with green garlands and ribbons, mistletoe and chestnuts hanging along the doorways.

"You there," the Doctor approaches a boy, "what day is it?"

"Christmas Eve, sir," he says.

"What year?"

"You thick or something?" he asks.

"Just answer the question," he insists.

"It's 1851, sir," he says, before moving along.

"What happens in 1851?" I ask the Doctor.

"Not much, bit dull. Nice year, though," he shrugs.

"Doctor!" A woman yells and the Doctor's ears perk up. "Doctor!" He takes off running and I follow close behind, trying to reach the source of the distress call. We reach an alley to find a black woman with curly hair looking nervously at a pair of bolted doors.

"Don't worry," the Doctor says to her as we approach, "What have we got here? Ooh." A growling comes from behind the doors as something throws itself against them. "You should get out of here."

"Doctor!" the woman called again.

"You don't have to shout," I say, my ears a bit too close for comfort, "he's standing right there."

"Don't be stupid," she said. "Who are you?"

"I'm the Doctor."

"Doctor who?" she asks.

"Just the Doctor," he replies.

"Well there can't be two of ya," she says sassily. Just then, a man ran up to us. Like the woman he was clad in clothing natural to 1851. "Where the 'ell have you been?"

"Don't worry. What have we got here?" he runs up to the door, exactly as the Doctor had.

"Hold on, hold on. Who are you?" the Doctor asks.

"I'm the Doctor. The one, the only, and the best," he winks at me, "Rosita, my sonic screwdriver," he ordered, holding his hand out. She quickly thrust something into his hand. "Back to the TARDIS, now!"

"Back to the what?" I said, baffled.

"Stand back, this is the job for a Time Lord!" the man said.

"Job for a what lord?" I repeat in the same baffled tone. He was talking like the Doctor, as if he were the proper Doctor, but he couldn't be. Could he?

Just then, the door burst open and a creature with dark shaggy hair and a metal mask burst through on all fours.

"Oh, that's different," the Doctor said.

"Oh, that's new," the other Doctor said.

They both aimed their sonic screwdrivers at the creature, "Allonsy!"

The creature leapt up onto the wall and the other Doctor swung a lasso over its neck with the intention of pulling it down and capturing it. Unfortunately, it was stronger than he thought and he merely hung from it as it ascended the building.

"My plan might have backfired," the other Doctor said.

"As per usual. I've got you," the Doctor grabs onto the rope, but is pulled up as well.

"You idiots!" Rosita shouts after them as I smack my forehead.

"That thing's going to drag them right off the other end if we don't cut them loose," I say, searching for a blade of some sort. I bound into the building, praying there weren't more beasts inside, and spotted an axe. I leap up the stairs, following the sound of screaming. I open the door to find the beast running across the floor, the two Doctors being dragged behind it. I lift the axe behind me and heave it down over the rope. They are released from its pull immediately, but continue sliding a few feet before stopping.

They groan and slowly clamber to their feet. At once, they begin laughing madly and hug each other. They are so similar, they must be related or, better, the next regenerated version of the Doctor. He had the same name, the same catch-phrase, it's the only solution.

They laugh all the way down the stairs until Rosita yells at them again. "May I introduce Rosita, my faithful companion, always telling me off."

"And may I introduce my faithful companion, Jess, always handy in a pinch."

"Aw, that's so sweet," I smile, "but if you didn't keep getting in trouble-"

"Oh, but that's no fun," he laughs. I roll my eyes. "Besides, you enjoy it."

"Guilty as charged," I admit. While we were exchanging words, Rosita left in a huff, complaining about having to dismantle traps and how the funeral was only twenty minutes away.

"Funeral? What funeral?" the Doctor asked.

"Long story. Not mine. Not yet-" he heaves over, catching his breath. I wonder why- he didn't appear that old physically, no matter how old his mind was. "Not as young as I used to be!"

"Not as young as you were when you were me, anyway," the Doctor says, "now don't tell me what happened! Although, I hope I don't just trip over a brick. That'd be embarrassing, but I guess it depends on the brick..."

"Doctor," I warn, catching him before he rambled too much.

"Who are you exactly?" the other Doctor asked.

"No one, just, uh, John Smith. John and Jessica Smith," the Doctor says and I raise my brows in surprise and smile with approval.

"We've just heard about you, Doctor. You're a bit of a legend," I compliment, hoping to stray him from the topic of our identities. The Doctor didn't seem to want to emphasize that bit.

"A legend with certain memories missing, am I right, Doctor?" the Doctor asks.

"How did you know that?" he asked.

"You didn't recognize me," the Doctor replied.

"Great swathes of my life have been stolen away. When I turn my mind to the past, there's nothing."

"What's the last thing you remember?" I ask with concern.

"Cybermen. Masters of that hellish wall-scuttler and old enemies of mine now at work in London. You won't believe this, but they are creatures from another world!"

"Really? Wow," the Doctor says, and I try to mimic his expression.

"It is said they fell onto London, out of the sky in a blaze of light. Then they found me and," he seems to be staring off into distant memories, now, "something was taken and something was lost." Then, he returned to consciousness, "you knew me... What was I like in the past?"

"I can't say, sorry," the Doctor apologizes, "got to be careful with memory loss. One wrong word..."

"You're such a peculiar couple. I speak of Cybermen from the stars and you two don't even blink."

"Ah, don't blink, remember that? Whatever you do, don't blink? The blinking and the statues? No? Nothing?" the Doctor's attempts were in vain, the man recalled nothing.

"It's been a pleasure, but I've got to get going. The funeral," he nods, hoping we would understand.

"Can't we come along?" the Doctor asks.

"It's far too dangerous. Rest assured, I shall keep the city safe. Oh, and Merry Christmas Mr. Smith, Mrs. Smith."


	15. The Next Doctor, Part Two

We follow the other Doctor, but at a distance. He is making his way down the street, the black of the funeral contrasting against the snow. It almost hurts my eyes to look. We overhear him talking to Rosita.

"...you go back to the TARDIS, this is hardly work for a woman."

"Oh, but don't mind me saving your life all the time. That's work for a woman?" she retorts.

"The Doctor's companion does as the Doctor says. Off you go!"

The Doctor smirks at this, knowing full well that statement was rubbish.

"I'd like to see you try to pull that one on me," I smirk.

"Well, you can't follow me if you can't catch me," he says, "and I know where he's headed."

He took of running and I nearly shouted at him, but the other Doctor would catch him if I did. I cross my arms in a pout and decide to do my own investigation around this funeral. The Doctor could handle himself and so could I.

I was wandering the streets, looking for anything unusual, and found an army of marching silhouettes, being herded by men with blinking devices in their ears. I press my back against the brick wall and quickly snatch a girl from the herd, pulling her aside with a hand over her mouth to muffle her screams. I press a finger to my lips and shush her, assuring her that I meant to harm.

"I'm Jess, what's your name?" I ask sweetly.

"C-Clara," she replies shakily.

"What's going on?" I ask her.

"They're kidnapping us, children from all over London," she says in a whimper.

"Who is?" I ask urgently.

"The robot men," she replies. Cybermen.

"Listen to me- you need to get out of here. Stay out of the streets," I take off my leather jacket. "Give me your shawl and i'll take your place. If you wear this, a man called the Doctor will find you. Trust him." She nods and hands me her shawl, which I wrap around myself in order to blend in better with the children. I wasn't a child, but I wasn't too tall that I couldn't say I wasn't fifteen. "Good luck," I give her a quick squeeze before sliding into line behind a boy who looked only nine or ten. Orphans.

"What happened to Clara?" a boy next to me asks.

"Don't worry, she's safe. I'm here to help," I assure him, taking his hand. He looks up at me pleadingly, as if hope were too difficult for him to muster. He has blonde hair and freckles, his face streaked with tears. "My name is Jess, what's your name?"

"Frederic," he says and I squeeze his hand.

"Well, Frederic, I promise you I will get you out of here safely. Do you believe me?" He nods and I smile. I only hope I am right.

My fingers are numb with the cold, now, and I almost regret giving the child my jacket. Then I spot the Doctor and Rosita standing to the side and I lock eyes with the Doctor as I pass. I shake my head, telling him it is not safe to act. We are being guarded.

They take us to a workhouse where they use us as laborers. They tell Frederic to go to the upper level to work and I follow, knowing that only one wrong step could mean falling to his death. I made him a promise and I intend to keep it. We are working in the engine room and there are Cybermen monitoring us. I try to work out a plan to escape, but I can't get everyone out safely on my own, so I keep track of how many Cybermen there are and their location. The Doctor would come soon, and I wanted to be ready.

"DELETE! DELETE!" the Cybermen suddenly turn on us and begin shooting.

Then, the Doctor enters with metal tubes in his hands. He uses them to take out Cybermen. "Every single one of you, run! There's a hot pie for every one of you if you leg it!" he shouts.

"Keep running!" the other Doctor shouts, taking out Cybermen. Rosita is there, too, and she leads the children away. I realize Frederic is still standing at his post above the wreckage.

"MY SON!" the other Doctor shouts. "Doctor, my son! The Cybermen took my son! I thought he was dead, but he's here! FREDERIC!"

"Doctor there's no way down!" I shout, taking Frederic into my arms protectively. There are flames and explosions all around us and a beam has taken out the stairs. We are hundreds of feet in the air with no way down.

The Doctor pulls out a sword, "grab the rope!" I shift Frederic to my back and grip onto the rope.

"Don't let go, no matter what," I say to him. He nods and the Doctor cuts some of the weight from the other end of the rope. We go soaring into the air, lowering toward the ground a bit slower than I expected. The Doctor must have known we wouldn't fall, but he is standing at the bottom anyway. I hand Frederic over to the other Doctor, who is overjoyed.

"Molto Bene!" the Doctor exclaims as he hugged me.

"All in a day's work!" I say, ducking as something exploded overhead. "So, you're Frederic's dad?"

"Jackson Lake," he extends his hand.

"Now that everyone's acquainted- can we get going?" the Doctor shouts sarcastically. Without another word, we run from the room and out of the warehouse. "Head for the street!" we run until we reach the river. The streets are in a havoc, a ten story tall Cyberman marching through the city like Godzilla. "The CyberKing."

"And that would be...?" I ask the Doctor.

"It's a ship- and inside the chest, a Cyberfactory, ready to convert millions!"

They meant to convert everyone into Cybermen!

"Jackson, take them south- to parkland," the Doctor says urgently.

"You expect me to run?" I say, insulted that he thought he needed to protect me.

"You need to get everyone out of here. There are dozens of orphaned children scared out of their minds right now, Jess." I nod and do as he says. I don't wish him luck, because I know he'll succeed, even though the air around me is filled with only shrieks of terror.

I run toward the beast, toward the people who need me most. Those who are confused or mad, I point them in the right direction. I pair up children and tell them to run together so that they would not be alone. Eventually, the children just end up swarming around me, so I take their hands and lead them away from the beast. When the thumping of its footsteps stop, I pull the children against a strong stone wall and watch. The Doctor is in a hot air balloon and is trying to reason with the beast. Suddenly, sparks emit from it and it begins to malfunction.

"It's going to fall!" someone shouts and havoc ensues. I pull the children behind me, but there is no need. The Doctor has zapped it away to another dimension. Jackson leaps up onto the light post and speaks to the crowd of people.

"Ladies and gentleman, I know that man! That Doctor on high! He has done this deed a thousand times! But not once, no sir not once, has he ever been thanked! But no more! For I say to you, on this Christmas morn, Bravo, sir! Bravo!" And with that, the crowd erupts into cheers and I smile, applauding along with them. The applause carries up to the Doctor, taking him away from his melancholy thoughts. He waves down at me and I wave back. I feel a tug at my shawl and see little Clara holding out my leather jacket.

"Why don't you keep it? You earned it," I smile, wrapping it around her and standing to address all of the children, "Pies on me!"


	16. Delirium, Part One

"What's going on?" I shout, holding onto the railing for dear life as sparks shoot out from around me.

"We're being pulled off course!" he shouts, desperately trying to take back control. We had been planning to travel to the Hanging Gardens of Babylon, but apparently that wasn't going to happen anymore. Some outside force had other plans for us.

We end up landing without much of a crash, to my surprise. Actually, there was none- we just, well, stopped. The Doctor, once he gained his footing, headed for the door and, upon opening it, stepped out slowly. I followed with caution, finding his hands above his head.

Wherever we were, it was heavily forested and inhabited by the five women in front of us. They were holding weapons to the Doctor's chest, so I exited with caution.

"Hello, ladies. I'm the Doctor, and you are?" the Doctor says, but his charm has no effect.

"Chandra, Elise, take the male to the Crypts," the woman in the middle barked. They lead him away and I begin to follow, protesting, but stop short.

"The door!" the Doctor shouts. I turn and see one of the women stepping toward it curiously. I dart my hand out and shut the door before she can look inside.

"Who are you and what do you want with the Doctor," I demand.

"We don't want anything from him," she laughs, casting her black hair over her shoulder, "what would we want with a man?"

"But you took him. Why?" I step toward them, standing my ground.

"I like her, Merci," the woman says, casting a glance toward her friend. "She's got spunk."

"She'll fit in well, then," Merci, the tallest of them, says. I eye her suspiciously. She has long curly red hair, has to be at least 5'8", and looks surprisingly muscular, as if she were a professional in rugby.

"Why were you in there?" the third asks, "Were you and him...?" she raises a brow.

"What? No!"

"She is lying. Why else would a man and woman be inside a box together?" the third woman asks. "It has to be Amor Deliria Nervosa."

"We'll have to give her the treatment," Merci says, "Let's get going."

"Doctor!" I shout as they begin to grab my arms, but they overpower me. "DOCTOR!"

"Relax, we're trying to help you," she says, "you're ill."

"What are you talking about?" I protest, "I'm fine!"

"Poor thing's delirious," the black woman shakes her head. "I'm Allison, long for Allie, and this is Jennifer, long for Jenny," she motions to the blonde girl on my left.

"Jessica," I mimic their foreign introduction, "long for Jess." There was no use struggling against them, I was walking without struggling, now. "So, where are we going?"

"Back to our civil," Allison explains. Merci is the one I expected to reply, as she seems to be the leader, but she merely walks again, blazing a trail before us. "You'll be under observation until you receive the treatment."

"Right, got it... Treatment for what?"

"The delirium," Allison says pitifully, as if I were some crippled creature or an abandoned puppy. They took me to a hospital, to a ward they had sealed off with a coded lock. I tried to look disinterested, but burned the pattern of numbers into my brain as she punched them in. There was a faint click as the door unlocked and we entered.

"There's a gown on the bed for you, dinner is in an hour," Jennifer says, leading me into a room with two white hospital beds. Merci is gone, now. She left us when we reached the locked doors. Jennifer leaves me to change, but I stay in my own clothes. There's no point in changing, I do not intend to let them do anything to me.

"Are you sick, too?" a girl asks, stepping out from behind the far bed. "My name is Cassandra, long for Cassie."

"What a lovely name! My name is Jessica, long for Jess," I respond, "I don't think anyone here is sick."

"Sick people don't know that they're sick, that's why they're here," she says, licking at a lollipop.

"How are we sick? Please, enlighten me," I say, sitting on my bed. She sits across from me, her legs crossed. "What is this Amor Deliria Nervosa?"

"Amor Deliria Nervosa, long for "love", is the disease that is spread through close contact with the opposite sex. Phase one: preoccupation, perspiration, racing thoughts. Phase two: periods of euphoria and despair, fixation, and paranoia. Phase three, chest pains, erratic behavior, and delusions. Phase four: emotional or physical paralysis and death."

"Wow, that's..." I didn't have a word for it. She sounded like she was something off a commercial or brochure, each word rehearsed and without feeling.

"We're better off without love, without men," she says, "that's what my mom told me. That's what they all say, the Cureds."

"But how can you live like this? Where are all of the men?" I ask, partially because I want to know where the Doctor is. Maybe he's the one who will need rescuing.

"The procedure not only frees you from the Delirium, but it also extends your lifespan so that reproduction is no longer imperative," she couldn't have been more than fifteen and she sounded like an adult. "We have no use for men. They are violent and erratic. They have no place in our world. A world of peace." I am grateful for her informative answer, but it hadn't given me the information I wanted.

"The Crypts," I ask, "that is where the men are kept, correct?"

"Yes," she says, "where they can live out the rest of their lives as Uncureds. It will all make sense, soon."

The sun is far gone now, and I am tired, yet I refuse to change out of my clothes, for fear they will be gone when I wake up. I even sleep in my jacket, my favorite article of clothing, as well as my converse trainers. If they tried to take them while I slept, I would wake up. While I await sleep, I tell Cassandra about how I came here to this place. Why I was taken, as she would see it, as well my view of the situation.

"The Doctor and I travel the stars," I explain, closing my eyes to envision our adventures. "I've seen dozens of different planets and time periods. I lived in Britain centuries ago and we lived in harmony with men. Don't get me wrong, blokes can be idiots and jerks, but we always work it out."

I tell her about James and how he had been nothing but kind and chivalrous and about my previous boyfriend, whom I hadn't thought about in what seems like forever. I wonder if the other Jess, the one who still lived my life in my proper time, has married him. We had always been close, but I had never really thought about it before. I had never felt the compulsion to look into the TARDIS database about my own future. I am a different person now.

"That sounds lovely," she breathes. "If only men were actually like those in your world."

"I'm sure they could be if you gave them the chance," I say truthfully.

"You'll see, though. Tomorrow you'll understand," her tone changes back to its previous emotionless and somewhat sing-song ways. Then, her breathing becomes steady. She is asleep.


	17. Delirium, Part Two

It seems like years since I have arrived at the Civil. I have a home, now: Room 4A in Ward 6. It has a nice couch, a bookshelf filled with novels of science and of caution toward the disease, a bed, and a coffee table with a lamp. It is simple, it is enough. I am happy. I am free of love.

Lauren Oliver has to be my favorite author, her book, Delirium, is the best of the cautionary tales. She best portrayed love for what it is: the deadliest of all deadly things: it kills you both when you have it and when you don't. Her words of caution cut through me like blades of truth. It was her book that sparked the movement toward a Deliria-free society.

"Love: a single word, a wispy thing, a word no bigger or longer than an edge. That's what it is: an edge; a razor. It draws up through the center of your life, cutting everything in two. Before and after. The rest of the world falls away on either side."

When I first came here, I had delusions of love, I see that now. My thoughts are clear and unbiased, now, no longer clouded by emotions or ulterior motives. I now see that I acted rashly and erratically. I was at Phase three of Amor Deliria Nervosa- I wasn't far from Phase four, which would most likely result in death by form of suicide or accident related to the Deliria.

Cassandra has been Cured and has since been given her own room. I visit her from time to time. I used to visit her more frequently, telling her stories about my beloved Doctor, the greatest man I knew. I've visited everyone in my ward, spreading the tale of the Doctor and his magic blue box. Of course, they were stories created by the Deliria- fairytales. I still dream, sometimes, about soaring through the stars in a blue box with a man in a long coat and great hair. I remember having the impulse to ruffle his hair like one might ruffle a child's or a dog's. I remember how he used to give me his jacket for protection. All of the times he had saved me, and I saved him.

I even dreamed to having a family with him, something that was completely impossible. The Doctor doesn't do families, and neither do I, especially now. I had to leave my family the day I met him, it was my choice, but not completely. I had become an anomaly, a fault in time, something that should not exist. I no longer belonged in my own time.

Perhaps that is the most powerful part of the Deliria- its ability to control our thoughts. Even as I remembered the dreams, I felt the disease begin to pump into my veins, spreading from my heart to my fingertips, down to my toes, and out of my chest. The ache returns and I feel like I am going to explode from the pain. I begin to scream, my body trembling, and I lash out as nurses rush into the room, attempting to restrain me. Images flash before my eyes as lights dance around my field of vision. I see a face: pensive brown eyes and a kind peaceful smile. It is the last thing I see before they manage to pierce my neck with the syringe, injecting me with a serum and relieving me from my pain.

I wake up to see that same face again, and I am convinced I am still dreaming. I am confused, and it appears my facial expression reflects my thoughts, for he begins to speak. It is then that I realize I am not dreaming, but awake.

"What the bloody hell is going on?" I say, sitting up. The Doctor is sitting on the edge of my bed and has a look of relief on his face. He looks older than before, with little wrinkles around his eyes. I move to pinch my leg in attempt to wake up, but his hand stops me. I am surprised that his hand is solid, real. "You're older," I accuse, as if attesting to something.

"It's been five years," he says softly.

"FIVE YEARS?!" I yell, as if the volume will somehow lessen my anger toward him. "How could- but it- you-" I am incapable of forming a complete sentence. Since words have failed me, I slap him instead, hoping my message is clear. Instead, he grins. "Why are you smiling?!"

"Because if you are capable of anger, then I haven't lost you," his grin widens, if it is even possible.

"What are you talking about?" I say, each word a sharp bite.

"You're still capable of emotion, Jess," he says as if it is a good thing. "You can still care."

"What makes you think I love you?" I cross my arms defensively.

"The fact that you came to that conclusion on your own, for one. Also, you have been resisting the procedure for five years, as you have been able to hold on to your capability to feel and retained your memories of me. The fact that you spent the past five years telling everyone in this hospital about me. Your feelings for me are so strong, in fact, that it sparked a rebellion and gave me the opening to escape," his grin isn't just from happiness now, but is laced with arrogance.

"Oh, shut it," I breathe, and his lips are on mine. I'm not sure who ignited the kiss, but we kept it going for a long time before the fire ran out of oxygen to burn off of.


	18. The Prodigy, Part One

"Rise and shine, Jess!" I open my eyes to see the Doctor looming over me. I scream and punch him, a victim of my cat-like reflexes. "Oi, what was that for!"

"For scaring me!" I protest.

"I'm beginning to think i'll never understand you," he says, rubbing his face where i'd hit him.

"GET OUT!" I say, throwing my slipper at him. He ducks and heads for the door, my second slipper hitting his back before he could round the corner. "And stay out!" I shout in triumph, turning over in my bed and pulling the edge of my blanket up to my chin. Stupid Doctor, disturbing my beauty sleep. Suddenly, the TARDIS begins to tremble and I realize he is flying us somewhere. I sigh, knowing I have no choice but to get up or else he'll end up in some mess while I am sleeping.

I pop into some clothes and converse trainers before brushing my hair back into a ponytail and heading to the console room. I pass the library on the way and notice the pool has moved into it. I wondered if any books would fly off the shelves and into it when we landed.

"What are you up to?" I ask, arms folded as I saunter out into the console room.

"We," he corrects me, "are off to investigate the disappearance of Albert Einstein."

"Einstein disappeared?" I ask, approaching him as he plays with various settings on the console. Without looking up from his work, he hands me his psychic paper. "Albert Einstein, missing, 47, 7, 19"

"Thank you," the Doctor said in a sing-song voice, punching in the coordinates and pulling the lever. I nearly launch the psychic paper into the air when the TARDIS takes off. When we land, the Doctor whips out a magnifying glass, his eye growing large behind its lens.

"What's that for?" I ask, astounded that he just had it in his pocket waiting to be used.

"All great detectives have a magnifying glass!" he marches toward the door, "Allonsy!" I follow him outside to find myself in a hall and in front of a flat numbered 49. We knock at the door, with no answer. Of course there was no reply- he's missing. The Doctor sonics the door and we step inside.

The wallpaper, couch, and rug are all detailed to the point of hurting my eyes. I prefer more simple designs, as opposed to tight patterns and florals. There is an old spiral staircase to the first floor and in an instant I can imagine Einstein walking up those stairs daily, coming inside, and tinkering away at a desk. The Doctor immediately walks in and starts searching for anything unusual while I move slower, taking it all in. I'm not sure does and doesn't belong, as i've never lived in whatever year it is at the moment or in Switzerland.

I approach his work desk and sit down in his chair, reading through his notes. They were spectacular- the scribbles of a genius. It is then that the psychic paper begins acting up. "Doctor," I call, picking it up and reading it. Words began writing themselves into existence.

"What? What is it? Did you find something?" the Doctor said, rushing into the room.

I held up the psychic paper grimly, "Leonardo De Vinci's gone missing."

"What?" he snags the psychic paper and reads it carefully. "Oh no no no no," he mutters, running to the TARDIS. I put the papers back on the table and run after him.

We then arrived in Milan in the 1500's, meeting a man named Ludovico Sforza. He said that he was Leonardo's patron and Leonardo, whom he referred to as a military engineer, was to move from Florence to Milan but never arrived. We received another message on the psychic paper, reading that Alexander Graham Bell was missing. Then, another, that Sir Isaac Newton was missing. We travelled through time and space, but found no clues.

"Someone is plucking geniuses right out of history, but why?" the Doctor ponders.

"Well that much is obvious," I look at him to see he is clueless. "Someone is in trouble and needs a genius to solve their problems," I shrug.

"But why didn't they just call for me, instead of sending me all of these messages?" he says, distraught and angry. It must be torture for him.

"Maybe the universe doesn't revolve around you?" I pose. "Nah, that's a rubbish speculation." The Doctor and I have a bit of a laugh at that. "Is there a chance whoever's done this doesn't want you involved? Of course, that would be ridiculous. You always get involved."

"But they haven't left any clues!" The Doctor scans the room with his sonic, "no residue; nothing. I have nothing to go on! Anyone could be responsible!"

"We could make a list of all of the geniuses throughout Earth's history and try to figure out who's next- maybe catch them in the act?" He grins and leaps to the console, plucking commands in at warp speed.

The screen comes up with a montage of portraits and I recognize some from my studies in school. "They've already got Einstein, Da Vinci, Bell, and Newton, which makes their next target one of these four," the Doctor says. Four images become larger on the screen: Charles Darwin, von Goethe, Thomas Edison, and a girl i've never heard of.

"Who's she?" I ask, pointing to the girl. She is definitely not someone I would expect to be a result. All of the others are old guys, and she's a young girl, a child with rosy cheeks and a button nose, no older than 12.

"Someone who shouldn't exist," he says slowly, as if his mind is somewhere else.

"Are you saying women can't be geniuses?" I cross my arms defiantly. He looks at me in all seriousness and I wish i'd taken it back.

"A child that intelligent should not exist in any time," he says.

I squint at the screen, reading the list of facts beneath her image. "Is that even possible?"

"It's completely impossible," he says, "but then again, so are you."

We materialize back into Britain in front of a modest house, ivy crawling up the exterior walls. We are in a garden with overgrown plants and a shabby little shed. "This is where she lives?" I ask him, wading through the grasses. "Looks like it's been abandoned for years!"

"Something's wrong," he says, his eyes examining the exterior. Suddenly, there was a scream from inside, a light flashing in one of the second floor windows. The Doctor and I leap into action, bursting into the house and dashing inside. We burst into the room to find it utterly empty, not a single living being inside.

"Doctor," I say, moving closer to the window. "Doctor, there's something out there!" He runs from the room and down the stairs. I follow, but not before stopping to glance around the room one last time. There's something off about it. When nothing came to mind, no solution for my unease, I left. When I open the door to the TARDIS, the Doctor is standing by the controls and is the only one in the room.

"Shut the door." I am a bit rattled by his sudden change in demeanor, and wonder if he got another message on the psychic paper. I grab the railing, preparing for the turbulence of traveling through the time vortex.


	19. The Prodigy, Part Two

I am the first out, since I am closest to the door, and find myself unimpressed. "We're in London."

"No, not London, Hexagora," he says, leading me outside and locking the door behind us.

"Seems like a carbon copy of London" I mumble to myself, wondering if there was a reason or if they had just copied London... or did London copy Hexagora? Can't be sure- it's all a bit wibbly.

"Are you the Doctor?" a young girl walks up to us. The same girl who had been kidnapped only moments ago.

"Do you need a doctor?" he searches her eyes, crouching down to level with her, but she doesn't answer. "What's your name?"

"My name isn't important. Not like yours," she says, taking his hand, "this way."

"Where are we going?" I ask the girl.

"To see the Queen," she replies simply, leading us down a series of hexagonal hallways until we reach a big open room, a woman on a throne in the middle.

"Hello, Doctor," the queen says with a smile. "Can I offer you tea and honey?"

"Are you the woman responsible for the disappearances?" he breaks away from us, moving toward her.

"Well I am the only woman here, aside from the child and the wench."

"Oi!" I bark defensively.

"Just answer the question."

"A man who knows what he wants and doesn't sugarcoat things," she smacks her lips together, "I admit, I have been... borrowing human geniuses."

"Borrowing? What for?"

"I mean no harm, Doctor. Hexagora is drifting toward its sun. We need additional brainpower in order to save our planet and its inhabitants from incineration."

"Well then, I can move you and your people to a save and uninhabited planet. You and your people will live and the "borrowed human geniuses" can go back to their rightful times and places. Do we have a deal?"

She smacks her lips together, "I will agree to these terms on one condition: You, Doctor, will agree to a marriage of state."

"Deal," he agrees. She spits on her hand and holds it out toward him. He spits on his hand and meets hers in a wet and sticky handshake. I cringe.

"Uh, Doctor? What did you just agree to?" I ask him when he walks back toward me.

"A marriage of state in return for the lives of some of the greatest geniuses in human history."

"I got that much," I roll my eyes, "but what does did she mean by marriage of state? Are you going to become a citizen or something?"

"Well..."

"Doctor?" I growl impatiently.

"You can be my best mate...?" he raises a brow sheepishly, as if I might hit him. At that moment, I felt like I might. Nostrils flaring, I huff my way back to the TARDIS without another word. I feel a hot burning rage and the urge to rip something to shreds for no apparent reason. I slam the TARDIS door shut behind me and, once I am alone, scream.

Knock, knock.

Heat rushes to my face and instantly I think of the Doctor standing on the other side of the door. What would I say to him? That he was being unreasonable? Rash? Or that I was over-reacting? I suppose screaming wasn't really necessary, but what do you expect? One minute we're kissing, the next he's marrying some bee woman?

I whip open the door and see the girl from before standing politely, as if she hadn't noticed my fit, or didn't think anything of it. "Hello," I manage to say, "can I help you?" I sounded like a bloody saleswoman.

"The Hexagoran aren't human," she says, and I am immediately confused. Of course they aren't human, they're Hexagoran. "They appear how they want to appear, not as they truly are." What was this kid talking about? Maybe it's some genius thing and i'm too simple minded to catch on. Then again, traveling with the Doctor's probably boosted my IQ a reasonable amount. Still...

"You're going to have to break it down for me, kid," I say, unable to handle anything but the blunt truth at the moment.

"I'll show you," she says and walks away, "be discreet." Curious, I tiptoe after her. She moves in the shadows, her small body easily concealed in them. She stops and turns to me, her finger pressed to her lips, then pointing to an opening in the wall. I move toward it, and see it is a small tunnel. I'll go first," she says before crawling into the tunnel. I have to lay on my stomach and wriggle my way through, but I still ended up needing her to help pull me out at the end.

"Give me a hand, will you?" I ask.

"Can't," she says, looking at me through the end.

"What do you mean, of course you can!"

"Sorry," she says and moves away, "you're on your own."

I scowl and struggle through the end. I stand and brush myself up, but when I look up, I am face to face with a giant bee, but she shushes me before I can make a sound. When I realize it is not going to attack. "This is Jez, he's a friend."

"He's a bee!" I am allergic to bees, especially big bees, like Mr. Six-footer, here.

"They all are," she says, "Jez is my Hexagoran, but instead of mimicking me, he wants to help."

"What do you mean?" I demand further explanation.

"Queen Zafia means to absorb the Doctor's mind when they are wed. Once this is done, she can infiltrate Earth."

"What do you mean, absorb his mind?" I demand, infuriated at the thought. "She wants to turn him into a vegetable?!"

"It is the only way to ensure her success," she explains. A trap. This was all a trap. I should have known she was no good when she tricked the Doctor into marrying her. "It is up to you to stop her, Jess. Only you can stop the wedding."

"Me? Why me?" My heart rate is rising.

"Because you have to stop the Doctor. You're the only one who can."

"What do I do?" She takes off and I follow her. We end up in another large room, maybe the same one. The kidnapped geniuses form two lines on either side of the throne and in the center stand the Doctor and the Queen, holding hands.

"I OBJECT!" I shout with the biggest voice I can muster. I've always wondered what it would feel like to say that, but I never thought it would happen. Especially not like this.

The Doctor calls my name, "Jess?" just as the Queen snaps, "Who let the human girl in here?"

"You can't marry her!" I rush forward, but am stopped by Leonardo and Mozart.

"Let her go!" the Doctor says, stepping away from the Queen and breaking contact.

"This isn't a wedding ceremony- it's an absorption ritual! She's going to drain your mind!" I shout, struggling against their arms.

"What's the meaning of this?" the Doctor asks the Queen.

"I don't know what she's talking about," the Queen says.

"Hold on- let her speak," he orders, and I am brought forward.

"The Queen wants to invade Earth but she can't while you stand in her way!" I manage to rip free from Leonardo, but Mozart still has a strong grip on my right arm and I am captured again. "These aren't even Leonardo and Mozart- they're giant bees!"

"Bees?" the Queen scoffs, "The girl is mad."

"I'm not mad, it's the truth. They've transformed into the human form of those they kidnapped!" As if on cue, the girl runs in with Jez and the real geniuses. Suddenly, it was as if all of hell broke loose. The genius impersonators transformed back into their original bee-like form, Jez sets the Queen's throne on fire, and the Doctor pushes me away from my captors. He ducks away from their stingers, which would have hit me if he hadn't pushed me out of the way. I watch as the two sting each other to dearth. Someone is holding my hand and pulling me away. I immediately thought it was the little girl, but it is the Doctor. He is pulling me with one hand and the girl with his other hand. He is shouting for the others to follow us and they do without hesitation. Chaos ensues behind me, but ahead is only the simple peace of the hallway, the TARDIS at the end of it.

There is a cry behind us and the Doctor stops. Behind us, the Queen fell to the floor, a stinger in her back. "Go!" the Doctor shouts, propelling us forward. I let the kidnapped geniuses pass by me, but I stand still and watch as the Doctor runs to help his would-be-bride. Behind them, flames lick their way down the hall, burning everything in sight.

"Doctor!" I shout. Why is he trying to save her? She's evil!

"Help me, Jess!" he shouts. Despite my own feelings, I run to help him and together we drag her into the TARDIS. The geniuses are gaping at their surroundings while the girl is slapping their hands when they try to touch the controls. Spunky one, she was.

"Why are you helping the Queen?" I ask as we pull her up onto the raised floor of the console room. Just as there is chaos outside, the inside of the TARDIS is also in a rage, sparks flying out from the console.

"Because," the Doctor pulls the stinger from her back. I watch as the foot long stinger hits the floor, oozing venom. "She isn't the Queen, she's as human as you are, and she's the reason we made it out of there alive."

I am silent and ashamed. I hadn't even thought of that. I was stupid to think that she, a woman stabbed by a Hexagoran stinger, could be the Hexagoran leader. Why would they kill their own Queen? I'm an idiot. I'm an idiot and I would have let her die. This innocent woman. The woman who saved our lives.


	20. The Prodigy, Part Three

The Doctor leaves her in my care to address the sparking console. The little wrinkles by her eyes are a sign that she lived a happy life, but the scars on her body tell a different story. Her forehead is hot and I cannot tell if she is shaking because the TARDIS is moving, or because the poison is seeping through her veins and putting her into shock. The little girl is kneeling next to her, crying over her body as the woman stroked her hair.

I watch as the Doctor lays her head down gingerly, resting it in his lap. I stand to the side, feeling like I don't belong any closer. The little girl is holding the woman's hand tightly within hers. She is crying silently and the woman reaches up to touch her cheek. The little girl put something in her hand and closed it tightly around it.

"Don't cry," tears form in her eyes, "I'll always be with you." No matter how broken she was, her voice remained clear and warm.

"Listen to me," the Doctor says, "just hold on a moment longer. You're going to be alright, I promise."

She pulls his head down and whispers something in his ear. This is an intimate moment for her, one of her last, so I turn away. I am now facing Mozart, Leonardo da Vinci, Einstein, and Alexander Graham Bell. They stand still with somber expressions, and Leonardo is holding his hat against his chest respectfully.

A small hand slips into mine and the girl is at my side. I turn so I am facing toward the console. The Doctor is standing, now. A brilliant warm light is reaching out from the TARDIS, encompassing the woman's body completely. I squint my eyes as she became one with the heart of the TARDIS. I am awestruck and try to ask the Doctor what happened, but he just flies the TARDIS in silence, his jaw clenched.

"Thank you," Mozart says sincerely, holding my hand in his, "Thank you both."

"You saved us all and we are truly grateful," Einstein adds.

"If this is a dream, it is an extraordinary one," Leonardo says.

"Still, we are sorry for what has taken place today," Bell said solemnly.

"It's been a pleasure to meet all of you," I say on behalf of the Doctor, who is still too upset to talk to them. "I think you should probably keep these events to yourselves, though. People might think you're, well..." Insane.

"Don't worry, Miss Rowling," Einstein chuckled as if to say "we're not that stupid."

"Will you do something for me before you go?" I ask Einstein.

"Of course! Anything for you," he says happily.

"Can you make this expression for me?" I ask before popping my eyes and tongue out eccentrically, as if to shout "BLAH!" to a child. He mimics the expression I know all too well, the famous photo of him with his wild expression and wild hair to match, and I grin.

"Is there a reason behind your request?" he asks and I shake my head 'no'.

"Just needed a laugh."

"Don't we all?"

I bid them a bittersweet farewell as we drop them each off in their rightful place. "Please won't you come with me? I'd love to paint you," Leonardo pleads.

"Thanks, but I think my place is here."

"May I stay?" the girl asks, looking up at me with big doe-like eyes.

"That's up to the Doctor," I say softly, letting my eyes settle on his.

"No, I couldn't," he says, "I don't do families." Her eyes soften and her lip begins to tremble. "Don't you cry," he points at her commandingly, "don't you dare cry." Her puppy dog eyes are bigger than I thought possible and she folds her hands together. "Help me out here, Jess," he begs.

"I can't," I say, "I know what it's like to have nothing left. Maybe she needs a madman in a blue box. I did."

"Absolutely not! It's far too dangerous for a child," the Doctor insists. "Besides, children don't do what you tell them to, they wander off, they get hurt, they cry..."

"You still keep me around," I challenge, "unless you regret taking me on as a companion?"

"Fine," the Doctor gives and she squeals.

"Thank you! Thank you!" she jumps up and down before hugging him.

"Okay okay," he attempts to calm her down. "That's enough hugging for today." Suddenly a vision flashes before my eyes, a dream from long ago. I imagine that she is my daughter and the three of us are a family in the TARDIS. I shake the image from my head like a bad dream. "You alright there, Jess?"

"Yeah, just a headache," I say convincingly, which was easy, as it was true.

"Want me to do a bio-scan?" he asks.

"No, no, i'm fine," I say, "It's nothing."

"Doesn't look like nothing," he says, "come over here." I move toward him and he takes my head into his hands. "Ahhhh," he says, sticking his tongue out as any patient does during a check up. I mimic him and he peers into my throat. Next, he holds his sonic up as if it were a flashlight, pressing the button and moving it side to side.

"Did you ever actually go to medical school?" I ask, not sure if he was scanning me or checking my pupil dilation as a medical doctor would.

"I was awarded an honorary degree from St. Cedd's in Cambridge in 1960," he says absently as he looks at his sonic screwdriver.

"Honorary?" I press, but he steps away from me and moves to the TARDIS. "Doctor, is there something wrong with me?" He looks perplexed, concerned, and worried.

"Nothing a good night's rest won't fix!" he says, "Now off to bed!" I purse my lips and am about to protest, but there was no fighting it. I really was feeling a bit off. I lay down and only then do I realize just how tired I am. What was wrong with me?


	21. Just Jess

When I wake up, I feel much better, as if I had never been sick at all. I skip out to the console room and find the Doctor there, alone. "Hey, where's the kid?"

"I took her home," he says.

"What?" I ask, confused.

"I found a nice family and left her on Earth," he says, "she'll be safe there."

"But you promised-" I say softly. We were going to be a family. A makeshift one, but the closest i'd ever get. My heart ached, longing for that sense of companionship only a family could provide.

"I promised to keep you safe," he interrupts, "I can't do that when she's here."

"What are you talking about?" I begin to raise my voice, "she's just a little girl!"

"You don't understand," he huffed, as if he was an explosion waiting to happen, and ran his fingers through his hair.

"Oh, I understand perfectly. You don't do families." I snap and storm back to my room.

"Wait! Jess!" he called after me, but I don't stop. For some reason, I am crying and I can't stop. Maybe it's because I don't have a family. Maybe it's because I never will. Maybe it's because all I have is a madman and a box. "Jess," he touches my shoulder and I don't jerk away. "You need to know something," he says. I half expect him to turn me around and force me to look at him, but he doesn't. "When I did that body scan, there was something wrong with the results." Stop. Don't say it. Don't.

Why did he have to go and say that? Why did he have to tell me the truth? Whether I knew or not would make no difference, it would only make me feel empty inside. Eternally empty.

I turn and cry into his shoulder. He wraps his arms around me comfortingly as I openly weep. I don't care that I am staining his suit. I don't care that I am allowing myself to be vulnerable. I don't care about anything. But that is a lie-

"I'm sorry. I'm so sorry," he coos into my ear, stroking my hair soothingly. I don't let go of him. My face is a splotchy red mess and my cheeks itched with tears.

-I care about him, about the Doctor, about that mad man in a box. The age old Time Lord and his TARDIS. I have him. And he is enough.

"I will find out why this happened to you, Jess. I promise."

It is then I realize that I am not Jessica Rowling. I haven't been for a long time. "Doctor?" I pull back from him a little. "Would you mind not calling me Jessica Rowling anymore?"

"Why not?" he asks, confused.

"It's just- I'm not that girl. I haven't been for a long time, and I can't keep spreading someone else's name throughout history."

"Can I still call you Sexy?" he asks, trying to lighten the mood. I chuckle a little and he smiles. "So, what's your new name?"

"Well, I always wanted to name my child Claire," I say, "So she can have tons of nicknames, like Claire-Bear, and that girl Clara we met on Christmas, she was a little angel."

"So now you're...?" the Doctor asks.

"Jess. Just Jess, for now."


	22. Beauty and the Beast

"Good morning!" I wake up to the Doctor again, but I don't punch him. I am too drained from crying the night before.

"Morning," I reply sleepily.

"Get dressed, princess!" he says, ushering me out of bed.

"What?" I rub my eyes. "What are you on about now?"

"You want to discover who you are, and what better place than your inner child?" He grins excitedly, "A bit of Disney will help!"

"Some of us are a bit too in touch with our inner child," I mumble.

"Allonsy!" he says, charging out of my room with a spring in his step. I put on my clothes and leave my jacket behind, knowing that it will be unbearably hot outside. "So, who is your favorite princess?"

"Mulan," I answer automatically. She's the most kickass of all of them, I think, although she's not really a "princess".

"Wrong," the Doctor says, "Belle is the best."

"You didn't ask me who is best, you asked me who my favorite is. Besides, Mulan is clearly the best. She's outspoken and independent and doesn't revolve around a man like those other sappy princesses."

"Belle isn't sappy! She's brilliant! She's not afraid to be different and loves reading. Reading about adventure!" He argues.

"But while Belle is sitting at home reading about adventure, Mulan is out there living it," I retort, "I'll give Belle second place, though."

"Belle is number one, although I do like Rapunzel from Tangled," he asides.

"Rapunzel? They made a remake of that too?" His face lights up.

"You haven't seen it!" he claps his hands together. "Just wait there, i've got a Blu-Ray somewhere..."

"What's that?" I ask as he runs around, searching for something. "Like a blue stingray?"

"No, it's a sort of DVD player," he says, hooking it up to the TARDIS. Before long, that familiar Disney symbol is on the screen. The Doctor plops down on the ground next to me and I follow suit, sitting next to him. The Doctor kept bursting into song, especially during the song they sang under the glowing lights near the end. By the time the movie is over, our limbs are tangled together.

"I change my mind. Mulan, then Rapunzel, then Belle," I say. Tangled truly was an amazing movie.

"Oh come on!" the Doctor exclaims.

"Why do you like Belle so much?" I ask and I feel him shrug behind me, his body shifting ever so slightly.

"She takes this monster, this Beast, and turns him into a prince. She shows him what love is just when he's running out of time," he says breathlessly, "beautiful."

"Ah, but you see, the Beast was already a prince," I say lightly, "He'd just lost his way, is all."

"But without her, he would remain a beast forever. She shows him how to be human again." His voice has gone soft and I know that we are no longer talking about a movie. I feel his arms tentatively move around my body, as if he's unsure whether or not I will allow him to or not.

"Let's watch it together, then," I say, placing my hands on his and wrapping them tighter around my waist.


	23. The Host, Part One

As I am passing a table on the casino floor, I am stopped when a man reaches his hand out toward me and asks me to blow on the dice. I do, and he ends up winning.

"That was lucky," I say, now watching the game.

"Couldn't have done it without you, Lady Luck," he flashes a smile at me. "If you don't mind me asking, what's a girl like you doing in Macau?"

I say, "I'm traveling."

"All by yourself?" he raises a brow. He's smooth, i'll give him that, but his eyebrow moves are nothing compared to the Doctor's.

"Oh, no, i'm here with..." I cast a glance over my shoulder to see the Doctor licking a poker chip. "He's really quite charming," I assure him, "Mister..."

"Captain Jack Harkness," he flashes a smile, "let me treat you to a drink to thank you."

"Alright," I say and follow him to the bar. "So, what are you a captain of?"

"Nothing right now," he says, ordering a couple of vodka drinks.

"So you're a traveller, too?" I ask, sitting next to him and leaning on the bar.

"Yes," he says and leans toward me, "a lonely one."

"Oi, stop it," the Doctor says, appearing behind us.

"Doctor, always a pleasure!" Jack perks up, greeting him.

"You two know each other?" I ask, feeling like i've missed something.

"Oh, the Doctor and I go way back," Jack says as if they are old friends, but the Doctor doesn't look as pleased to see him.

"So what brings you here, Doctor?"

"Same thing that brought you- aside from the bar."

"Which would be...?" I prompt. I would say women, as Jack seemed the type, but the Doctor?

"Look around," the Doctor says and I turn to scan the room for anything abnormal. The wealthy and the well-dressed played poker, sipped fancy drinks, and laughed at overused jokes in attempt to gain good graces. I moved to details, smaller things that may be out of place, when it finally clicked.

"Sapphires," I whisper and look away quickly. My last run-in with this many sapphires didn't end well. I was almost possessed by the Midnight Entity and left behind like Rayne had been.

"I wanted to get a good look at one of them, and these ones don't seem to be hostile," the Doctor said. No one seemed to be possessed by an entity. Their eyes were normal.

"Shaken, not stirred," Jack says as he orders a couple of vodka drinks, completely changing my train of thought.

"Why?" I ask suddenly. It was a question that just popped out of my mouth before I could realize how silly it was.

"I like the bubbles," he replies casually.

"You like the bubbles?" I nearly break out in laughter.

"No shit, Sherlock," A woman in a slitted dress makes eye contact with me, her eyes more blue than anything i've ever seen. Her chestnut hair was pulled up in a bun with a couple of chopsticks holding it in place. "Why else would you shake a drink?"

"This is Star, Star, this is-"

"John," the Doctor cuts in, "John Smith and Jessica Smith."

"Mr. and Mrs. Smith, a pleasure," she says, "I see you've met my colleague already."

"Colleague?" the Doctor raises a brow.

"We work together," he says and sends a glance toward the Doctor, "occasionally."

"Are you working right now?" I ask, trying to place meaning behind the words.

"Overtime," Jack replies and looks at Star.

"Right, well..." I scan the room, looking for something to go off of. "Let's split up and look for clues!"

"This isn't Scooby Doo," the Doctor says, "but I like the idea. Jess, you're with me-"

"Actually, i'd like to go with the lady," Jack says and offers me his arm, "if you don't mind."

"Not at all," I smile and take it.

"Alright then, i'll go with star," the Doctor says, then interjects as we are about to leave, "take care of her, Jack."

"With my life, Doctor," he assures him. Don't worry, I think, I have no intention of becoming a host to an alien entity living inside a gem.

"So why did you want to come with me?" I ask as we walked, "was it because of my devastatingly good looks?"

"Your modesty, actually," he smiles, "I just want to hear more about how you know the Doctor."

"Long story short, the Trickster was messing with my mum and when the Doctor and I put things right, I somehow got booted out of my own timeline. It was like some sort of cruel out of body experience, watching another version of myself living the life I should be living."

"And the Doctor gave you the opportunity to start a new life as his companion," Jack finishes.

"It broke my heart, but I wouldn't trade my life with the Doctor for the world," I grin dreamily.

"You too, huh?" he sighed.

"What about you, Jack?"

"Me? I met him when I was 35 in the height of the Blitz-"

"-hold on, the Blitz was in 1941," no way he was that old.

"You didn't think the Doctor was the only one with the tech to travel in time?" he said with a smirk. "I met him during his last regeneration when he was traveling with Rose. You're lucky, he's much more attractive now. He had a big nose and a couple of elephant ears back then. Probably why he had such good hearing."

"He's always tasting things wherever we go. Last planet we were on, he just put a handful of sand in his mouth like it was candy!"

We had left to go outside, now, and were heading into town where there were more stores. There was a question burning in my mind, but I wasn't sure if it was appropriate or not. Something told me Jack wouldn't care nearly as much as I did, so I went for it.

"Are you gay?" I blurt out.

"You're adorable," he laughs, "how quaint."

"Quaint?" How was that quaint? Random, maybe. Rude, possibly. Quaint? I didn't see how it applied.

"I'm from the 51st century, those terms are archaic to me. If you want to label my orientation, however, I prefer omnisexual."

"Wwe're here!" I say as we approach a jewelry store. Jack opens the door for me and I step in, muttering a "thanks" as I pass him.

"Good afternoon," a woman says, "how can I help you?"

"Hello there," Jack coaxes, "i'm interested in buying something nice for this lovely lady. What would you suggest?"

"You're lucky- we just got a new shipment of Kyanite," she says and goes behind the counter, pulling out a tray of jewelry, "we ran out of stock yesterday."

"They're lovely," I say.

"Of course they are," she says, "they're from Midnight."

"Midnight?" I say, almost too quickly.

"Yes, our best provider of fine jewels," she smiles proudly, "It was our manager who first made contact with the president. We were the pilot store for Kyanite."

"Good for you," I say with as sincere a smile I can muster. "About when did all of this happen?"

"A few weeks ago," she says, and I detect a bit of suspicion in her expression. "Haven't you noticed?"

"We were out of the country," Jack cuts in, "honeymoon."

"Oh, well congratulations!" she perks up. "In that case, might I interest you in these?" she pulls out a pair of Kyanite earrings framed with diamonds. "If the cut matches your ring-" her eyes fall to my hand which was completely ringless.

"I usually leave my ring off," I hold my hands up, "I'm an artist- I work with my hands."

"Ah," she says and sets the tray down in disappointment.

"We'll come back later with her ring," Jack says and places an arm around me to guide me to the door, "come on, sexy."

"The 'sexy' was unnecessary," I mutter as we exit.

"I was in character," he says, "besides, you don't seem to mind it when the Doctor calls you sexy."

"That's different."

"Well, you've got to give me something to call you other than Mrs. Smith," he insists, "unless you'd rather I call you Lady Luck?"

"Doesn't matter to me," I say dismissively, "it's all a bit wibbly, anyway."


	24. The Host, Part Two

Jack and I were on our way back when I asked, "can you tell me more about Rose? What happened to her?"

"The Doctor didn't tell you?" he asked, "Doesn't surprise me. Rose traveled with the Doctor for a long time and they were very close. Broke his heart when she got trapped in a parallel world."

"Parallel world?" The Doctor never told me what happened to her, he's just skipped over it whenever it came up. For all I knew, she died.

"Yeah, but she wasn't alone. She had her family and the other Doctor," he says. The other Doctor? Was he referring to Jackson Lake? Or the previous Doctor? Or are there more of him running around? "Hard to explain. The Doctor was sort of... cloned. Half Doctor, half Donna, all human." I let out a long whistle, but after all i've seen there's no way I could deny the truth behind anything anymore.

"Do you think the Doctor will have a wedding ring I could borrow?" I say absently.

"No need," Jack says and stops short. I laugh as he gets down on one knee, pulling a ring from his pocket. "Will you do me the honor?"

I am covering my mouth with my hand now, trying to stifle my laughter. I lift my left hand and allow him to slip the ring on my finger. People around us stop and clap as he rises to his feet and kisses me. That stopped my laughing.

Still, when we pull away, I am grinning, a twinkle of amusement in my eyes. "Do you just carry an engagement ring in your pocket, then?"

"Came in handy, didn't it?" he grins cheekily.

"I suppose so," I say casually, trying my best to avoid catching his contagious smile.

"You got engaged?" the Doctor exclaimed, whirling in front of us.

"Don't worry, you can be my best mate," I give him a tight-lipped smile. Payback for when he got engaged to the Hexagoran queen. Those here his exact words to me, too, when I found out: "you can be my best mate." Of course, when he said it, he was sheepish and a tiny bit completely frightened of my reaction.

Jack cleared his throat, "we found the source- well, the jewelry store- where it all started."

"The saleswoman called them Kyanite," I add.

"Kyanite," he racks his brain. "One of the only two minerals in the universe that neither accumulates nor retains negative energy, is heat resistant, and silicate."

"And apparently originates from the planet Midnight," I exhale.

"I can probably dissolve it if I can just create the right solution, maybe an AlSi compound..."

"Wait- don't you want to, I don't know, reason with them first? Why are you jumping right to... genocide?" for lack of a better term.

"Because I understand them," he says with a surprisingly cross face, "back when we were on Midnight, when the entity took over Rayne's body, it spoke to me."

"What did it say?" I asked hesitantly.

"I'll show you," he says, his eyes lingering on mine before leading me to the TARDIS. Inside, I see Star laying on the ground, unconscious.

"What happened to her?" I ask as Jack runs to her side to check for a pulse. Then, he pulls back one of her eyelids to examine her eyes. I move closer and see her irises were a different shade of blue than before.

"Star had very blue eyes, blue enough to pass as someone already possessed. She wandered off during our investigation for some reason and when I found her she was, well..."

"Possessed?" I look up at him for confirmation.

"Actually, I was going to say she was going for my throat with those clever little knives she keeps in her hair, but yes."

"What did you do to her?" I asked, wondering how the Doctor, a man who opposed violence, managed to defeat a woman who appeared to be some sort of highly-trained undercover agent.

The Doctor held up his sonic screwdriver and waved it a little, "just reset the frequency so it would put her to sleep."

"Well?"

"Well what?"

"What now? She won't sleep forever." and when she wakes up, she'll probably go right back on her killing spree. I look up and see that she might not be the one about to go on a slaughter. "Oh, no. No! Doctor, you can't."

"If I don't, then we could lose the entire human population-"

"You listen here, mister," I say and poke him in the chest defiantly, "I don't know who you are, but the Doctor I know would never commit genocide. The Doctor helps people- and never gives up."

He gives me such a melancholy expression that I almost falter, but I hold my ground. For a moment, he lets me not only look into his eyes, but see what is behind them.

"Oh, you sexy thing," he says and a familiar grin spreads across his face, "I could kiss you!"

"No one's stopping you," I say with a grin. He grins madly, takes my face into his hands, and plants a kiss on my lips. "Go on, then!"

"I see why he keeps you around," Jack says, "not only are you brilliant, but you keep him in check." I smile back at him.

The Doctor practically skips back into the room, returning with what appears to be a pile of random junk. I haven't the slightest clue how, but I assume he's going to do something clever with it. "Come on, then! We're going to kill them with kindness."

"How?" I ask as he dumps the pile of junk on the floor and gets to work.

"Get me all the perfume you can find," he says.

"But I don't-" oh, of course. I run to the closet and pull open the drawers beneath the mirror until I find one filled with beautiful swirling bottles of liquid. They were proper perfume bottles, complete with those little puffers attached. I grab one of the purses hanging on a hook and stuff as many as I can into the bag. I twist the clasp shut and run back to the console room, where the Doctor has cooked up some sort of solution. I put the purse down next to him on the floor and open it up. He takes a bottle out, sniffs it, then tosses it over his shoulder. "What did you do that for?" I ask, picking up the bottle. Thankfully, it hadn't broken. If it had, this place would be so thick with perfume that I would have to leave. The stuff gives me migraines and unless the TARDIS had some sort of ventilation system that could switch out all the air in here within minutes, I would have to go outside for a while and probably miss out on some awesome deductive reasoning.

"It smells like strawberries," he says and sniffs another. "Ah! Neelakurinji!"

"Neelakuri- what now?"

"Also known as the 12 Year Wonder, the Neelakurinji has the faintest of scents, and isn't particularly flashy, but when it blooms- oh, you'd love it," he says and holds it out to me. I close my eyes and let him spray a puff into the air. If it weren't for the sound of the mist or the feel of it on my skin, I wouldn't have noticed at all.

When I opened my eyes, the Doctor was pouring the bottle out and pouring a new liquid in. "What are you doing?!" I exclaim, not because I wanted to avoid having the scent from in the TARDIS, but because I wanted to preserve it, not dump it out. I watch as he puffs the new perfume onto Star. I watch as the mist settles onto her skin and the Doctor gently shakes her arm to wake her. Her eyes flutter open and I am prepared to move, but as she lifts herself to a sitting position, I realize the entity has gone. I erupt in laughter and hug the Doctor in rejoice.

"What the bloody hell just happened?" Star asks, "How did I get here?"

"Aha!" Jack rejoices and lifts her to her feet, spinning her in his embrace.

"Come on, then! Grab a bottle!" the Doctor prompted, tossing his at me. He grabs the larger vial of the solution and runs out of the TARDIS.

"Where are you going?" I call as he runs off.

"To put this in the sprinkler system!" he says and disappears down a hallway.

"What now?" Star asks.

"Cure as many people as possible," I say and take off for the jewelry shop. The same woman as before is inside, standing happily behind the counter of Kyanite.

"Back so soon? Where's your fian-" I cut her off when I spray a puff of mist in her face. Her eyes clear from a blue to a deep brown. "What- where-" she was at a loss for words. "I was eating a jammy dodger in my flat not five seconds ago!"

"Yes, sorry, bit of a detour... here! Try this new perfume- it's spectacular," I hand it over to her.

"I don't understand," she says.

"I don't think you want to," I mumble. "Long story short, those jewels from Midnight possess anyone that wears them and when you spray this perfume on them, they go back to normal."

"O- okay," she muttered, taking the perfume into her hands. "I'll do my best," she says and nods, accepting the responsibility.

"Good," I smile, "you're brilliant. Good luck!" I say and head back. The sprinklers have stopped, now, and people are huffing about, drenched and confused. "So," I slip into the TARDIS, "where to now, Doctor?"

"Munnar in Idukki, Kerala," he says, setting the coordinates. Just as he's about to pull the handbrake and set off, the TARDIS jerks to the side. Something had collided with us.


	25. Only Human, Part One

I run out to see for myself, and find Jack lying motionless on the ground. I kneel at his side and listen for a heartbeat. Nothing. I press down on his chest twice and start giving him mouth to mouth, trying to revive him.

"Stop," the Doctor says.

"I have to try to save him!" I exclaim, continuing CPR.

"No. Really. Stop." he insists. I stare up at him aghast. Did he really want me to just leave his friend here to die? I jump as Jack inhales sharply, suddenly coming back to life.

"Was someone kissing me?" he asks, sitting up. I stare at him in shock. "Oh, right. You don't know."

"He sort of- can't die," the Doctor says.

"How? What is he? Another Time Lord?"

"Human. One of my past companions, Rose, looked into the Heart of the TARDIS and it granted her enormous power. One of the things she did was resurrect him."

"Can't seem to stay dead ever since," Jack shrugs casually.

"So you're not supposed to exist," I grin, "me either."

"I was hoping I could catch a lift to Kegron Pluva on the TARDIS," Jack suggests hopefully.

"I don't take hitchhikers. Especially ones that crash into my TARDIS!" the Doctor protests.

"You sure you two are friends?" I raise a brow. They weren't acting like it.

"Yes," Jack says just as the Doctor says "no."

"Right, well, I'll be in the TARDIS. Feel free to join me once you two are done squabbling!" I wave passively and go back into the TARDIS. After a minute or two they enter, laughing. As we take off, the Doctor grows concerned at a disturbance affecting the TARDIS. He said it was a "dirty rip engine" and landed us back in the 21st century, a time the TARDIS always favored. The Doctor and Jack try to figure out the source of the disturbance while I head to find a coffee shop.

"Peppermint mocha with dark chocolate, please," I say when I reach the barista behind the counter. I'd always loved dark chocolate and mint as a combination.

"Coming right up," she says, grabbing a cup and preparing the drink. "It's been such a strange morning," she says as she pumps some mint flavor into the bottom of the cup, "drove past the hospital on the way to work and had to take a detour. The army has the whole area sectioned off."

"The army? Is there a quarantine or something?" I ask, wondering what could be so horrible, "or someone important is ill?"

"Dunno, but i'll bet anything it's the caveman from the Ravens club."

"Sorry, did you say caveman?" I say, leaning closer and trying to filter her voice out from the coffee machine.

"Yeah, word is that there was a fight last night and one of the guys was a caveman," she says and hands me my coffee, "enjoy!"

"Thanks," I say absently and head back for the TARDIS. It didn't sound like a hoax or gossip to me. Couldn't be if the army was here. Could be something covert with the government, but based on my track record, it's something alien. We head for the hospital and, thanks to the Doctor's psychic paper, pass without any trouble. When we get in, the Doctor asks a nurse why the place is blocked off.

"There was a patient brought in last night with the Ebola virus," she says, "can't chance a pandemic."

"Right, of course," the Doctor turns to me. "Don't touch anything or anyone, got it?" I nod. "I'm serious. The Ebola virus is highly contagious and spreads through physical contact."

"I'll be careful, Doctor," I assure him.

"And you- no kissing!" the Doctor points at Jack, who smirks in amusement.

We find the room of interest, as it is the only room that has a Neanderthal for a patient. "Who are you?" a nurse asks as we enter the room. She doesn't wait for our reply before ushering us to put on masks and gloves. We all do, even though I am the only one who can die. Comforting, isn't it?

"I'm the Doctor," he says, flipping open his psychic paper, "expert on Ebola fever. These are my interns. We're here to talk with the patient."

"Good luck getting anything out of him, he doesn't speak a lick of English!" she says.

"Don't worry, i'm a linguist," I press my lips together and approach the curtain, drawing it back. The Neanderthal sat there in the bed, staring wide-eyed at the television. "Hi there," I smile warmly, "I'm here to help you."

"I... I understand you," he says, surprised, and puts down the remote. Thanks to the TARDIS, we were able to communicate, but I didn't tell him that- it'd be too much for a caveman already out of his time.

"I'm the Doctor," he introduces, "and who might you be?"

"Das," he replied curtly.

"You're quite far from home, Das," the Doctor says, scanning him with the sonic.

"I was hunting in the jungle when these strange travelers came. Before I knew it, I was in a dark room with loud noise, pouncing on a man instead of my prey."

"Thank you," the Doctor says, "that's enough. You can sleep, now." The Doctor shuts the curtain and we begin to leave. As I shut the door, I see that the curtain is glowing green from an intense light.

"What's happening to him?" I ask. Surely that wasn't from the Ebola virus.

"The original trip polluted his cell structure," the Doctor says, "there's nothing I could do." Once we're outside, the Doctor hands Jack a psychic credit card, "find a nice hotel. We'll be back in a month."

"Pleasure meeting you, Jack," I say warmly.

"The pleasure is all mine, Lady Luck," he says and kisses my hand.

"Oi," the Doctor warns.

"I'm only saying goodbye," Jack said, a mischievous glint in his eye.

The TARDIS shudders and screeches, but the Doctor manages to pull us back in time to when Das was taken. 28,158 BC. We land on a plain and head for a nearby forest. The Doctor stops suddenly, spotting something up ahead. It's a strikingly good-looking young man sitting on a rock, biting into a sandwich.

"Where'd he get that?" I mumble suspiciously. He must be one of those travelers Das spoke of.

"Excuse me, mind if we join you for lunch?" the Doctor asks, sauntering into the clearing, but the man runs off. The Doctor darts after him into the darkness and I get a sudden flash from the last time I was in the forest, being chased by carnivorous shadows and daleks. I run after the Doctor, but find myself lost and clumsy in the dark. There's a cry of terror and my heart stops, thinking it is the Doctor. It couldn't be, though. The Doctor wouldn't scream in the face of danger, he would saunter up to it and have a good chat. A low growl sounds from my left and I press my back against a tree. My foot snaps a twig and I freeze. A hand clasps over my mouth and I am about to scream when I realize the hand is the Doctor's. I relax and he releases me, a finger pressed to his lips. He points down and I see that it is not a twig I snapped, but a bone from the remains of a large animal. I come to realize that whatever is out there, it's looking for seconds.

Suddenly, loud screeching music blasts all around us and my hands fly to my ears. The predator, which was closer than I anticipated, runs away and we are safe, except from a headache. The noise came from two more time travelers, who don't seem surprised to see us. The two men were also quite handsome, but their emotionless expressions made them seem carved out of stone. They lead us out of the forest and to a huge cave containing a wooden city called Osterberg.

I noticed that everyone in Osterberg had movie star good looks, except one man who looked normal, aside from a broad-rimmed hat and cape. He is talking to a tall and unbelievably gorgeous woman named Chantal, who had the most luxurious coco colored skin I have ever seen. The funny looking man, Quilley, was complaining about an experiment that was being prolonged when it was only meant to last two months. Chantal suggests he use combo 662 to stop working, but he says he doesn't want it. It is then that they notice us.

"I'm Mr. Smith and this is my wife, Mrs. Smith!"

Chantal seems to be the leader of this establishment and has us shown around. While a woman named Lena gives us a tour, I slip away and do a little investigating of my own. I wanted to know why all of these futuristic people with inhumanly good looks here here and why they got rid of Das. "Quilley!" I spot the oddly dressed man and wave at him.

"Mrs. Smith," he nods, "how can I help you?"

"I..." I pause, trying to phrase it in a harmless manner, "was wondering if you could tell me about Osterberg's history."

"I could get in trouble for telling you," he says lowly.

"Something tells me you will anyway," I reply. We stare at each other for a moment before he gives in.

"Follow me, it's not safe out here," he says and leads me through a few alleys to his home. "The Osterbergers come from hundreds of thousand of years in the future. A massive space battle caused Earth to be hit with an electromagnetic wave of sorts, knocking out all of our electronics. Without then, humanity was forced to focus on nonelectric fields of science, namely, biology. Eventually, we advanced enough to fully map out the human body."

"So you're like mechanics, piecing the human body around like a bunch of legos," I explain and he nods.

"We have these badges that block out any 'wrong feelings'."

"But you don't wear one," I finish, "you don't want to be controlled."

"I'm a Refuser," he nods, "the only one left."

"So how did you get here?" I ask. "Can you show me?" He nods. "First, we've got to find my friend. He'll want to see this." It doesn't take long to find the Doctor. He's the only one that spoke or moved with any real emotion.

"You'll never guess what I found out!"

"Surely it can't top what i've found out!" I exclaim. "I ran into Quilley-"

"-stalked, more like it-" Quilley interjected, but I continued.

"-and he told me all about Osterberg and he says he can show us the time machine!"

"Brilliant! I'll go with Quilley. You should go find out more about the beast from the forest," the Doctor suggests.

"Why do I always get stuck with the dangerous tasks?" I whined.

"Because I'm the one who understands alien technology and can sort things out. You're the one who is good at surviving in dangerous conditions."

"Uh, no. You're the one who's 900 years old, you clearly top me."

"But I also died 9 times," he retorts.

"Fine, i'll be the brave one," I say, pretending I had valiantly volunteered. "You go play with your screwdriver." I mumble to myself as I wander out into the woods, pushing back branches and trudging through leaves and twigs. At least this area of the forest had more light and was free of creepy shadows and, so far, monsters.


	26. Only Human, Part Two

The next thing I know, I am waking up to an old cavewoman and her son. I am in some sort of home and they don't seem hostile.

"Um, hello," I say, sitting up.

"I am Ka," the woman says, "You are safe, my daughter. We have decided that you are to join our family and marry my son, Ga, and become our queen."

"Sorry, what?" I say, rubbing my eyes to make sure this was real. "What did you say?"

"You are to marry my grandson and become queen of our tribe," she says.

"Right, well," I look around the room for some way to escape. "I don't think that's such a good idea."

"Nonsense! You will be queen."

"But I don't want to be queen," I say, "and I don't want to get married."

"Why not?" she says, starting to show signs of anger.

"I'm already married," I say, but even my own words sound weak against her authoritative tone.

"Where is your mark, then?" she asks, pulling at my collar. "I see no signs of marriage."

"In my tribe we exchange rings, you know, little decorations for your hands?" I say.

"Then show your ring," she orders. I gulp. I haven't got a ring. "If you have no ring, then there is nothing to stop this wedding. We will have a new queen by morning!"

I realize there is no way to convince them kindly, so I try trickery.

"Very well," I stand up and brush off my pants, "I will go appease my tribe's gods so that we may have a good marriage." I walk out the door, my muscles tensed, the image of one of them clubbing me over the head flashing through my mind. They must believe me, for they let me go.

When I finally find my way out of the camp, I realize I have no idea where I am or how to get back to the Doctor. I wish suddenly that Jack had come with, for surely he would be with me and we'd find a way out of here.

"Wait!" someone calls out to me and I turn to see it is Ga. "Where are you going?"

"I'm sorry, Ga, but I can't marry you."

"Why not?" he asks, looking hurt. As I try to explain, I begin to hear hoofbeats and we hide behind some bushes. I peek out and see that the man riding the horse is none other than the Doctor.

"Doctor!" my face lights up and I emerge from the bushes. He hops off the horse and engulfs me in a hug.

"We have to get out of here," he says, "why are you out here, anyway?" Just then, Ga steps out from the bushes. "Oh look, you made a friend! Hi, i'm the Doctor."

"Is this him?" Ga asks, "Is this your husband?"

"Let me explain-"

"No time," the Doctor says curtly. "The Hy-Bractor is coming. If we don't get out of here, it will eat us, too."

"Too? You mean..." the Doctor's expression says it all. "All those people..."

"They brought it upon themselves," he says, "they created the Hy-Bractor, and now they're paying the price."

"Ga, your tribe!" I say, stepping towards him urgently. "We have to warn them!" We head into the tribe and Ga gathers everyone, but no one wants to listen to us because we are outsiders.

"You don't understand," the Doctor pleads, "if you stay here, you'll die!"

"We do not trust outsiders," Ga explains to us.

"If I join your family, will they listen to us?" I ask, "if i'm no longer an outsider?" He nods.

"Alright then, it's settled."

"No, it's not settled!" The Doctor says.

"Doctor, if marrying Ga is the only way to save these people, than it is a small price to pay." If even one of these cavemen dies, it could mean a ripple through history and will affect generations to come. I may not even be born. Once the ceremony finishes, and I see to it that we skip all of the unnecessary parts, I order them all to run and hide. Ga tries to take me with him, but I don't let him lead me away. "I'm not going with you."

"You are my wife, queen of my people, you must come with us," he says, tugging harder at my arm.

"I only did this to save your family," I say, starting to lose my patience, "Now let go of me, Ga."

"You cannot leave," he persists.

"Let go of her," the Doctor says and throws Ga back. I am startled, but do not hesitate when the Doctor mounts the horse and extends his hand out toward me. I take his hand and climb on behind him. We ride back into the main tribe, but find that only a few were not killed by the Hy-Bractors. One of them comes toward us and the Doctor yanks at the reigns, but it is too fast. We fall to the ground as the Hy-Bractor consumes the horse. I scramble to my feet and attempt to run, but black spots are clouding my vision, bleeding into my sight until there is nothing but blackness.

When I awaken, I am in a laboratory with the Doctor and Chantal. I am slumped on the floor behind her while she converses, well, threatens the Doctor. "If you do not help me, Doctor, I will feed the girl to the Hy-Bractor." I spot a popper pack of those drugs Quilley mentioned. They are only a few feet away on top of a metal slab. I begin to crawl toward it until I am able to reach them. I rise slowly to my feet and slam them on her neck.

"Thanks for that," the Doctor says and puts on his glasses, running to the table.

"What are you doing?" I ask as he begins to mix various liquids with great concentration.

"Creating Bractor-Be-Gone!" he says before climbing on top of the table and into the air vent.

"Uh... Doctor?" I say hesitantly. His arm sticks back down through the opening, the sonic screwdriver in his hand.

"It's on the right setting, just point it at that box on the wall!" his voice echoes through the vents. I take the sonic, point it at the controls, and press the button. Sparks fly out from it and there is a loud whirring noise. There are a few thumps and the Doctor's voice shouting from above as he is blown away by the winds.

I climb onto the table and stick my head up into the vents, shouting "SHOULD I TURN IT OFF?"

"NO!" he shouts and scrambles for something to grab onto, "CHANTAL! DON'T-!" he says, clinging to the side of the vents. Hair is whipping in my face, but still I struggle to see the Doctor. He looks back up to me, his face contorted as if he had just seen something horrible, and shouts, "GET BACK TO THE TARDIS!"

I duck down and scramble off of the table, booking it back to the TARDIS. First, I had to find my way out of here, though. "Doctor!" I shout, suddenly lost in the halls. I could tell that something bad was about to happen, but I couldn't escape.

"This way!" the Doctor grabbed my hand and pulled me in the right direction. Even though we are running, I feel my heart steadying now that he is with me. Just in time, we reach the TARDIS and shut the door. There is a shudder and a flash of light and I know that something has just blown up outside. Suddenly, the Doctor is rolling on the floor laughing.

"What? What is it?" I ask breathlessly.

"Your- ha- hair!" he gasps. I furrow a brow and reach up to touch my hair. It was almost as gravity-defying as the Doctor's. I try to press my hair down, but it just pops back up.

"Well not everyone can be blessed with hair like yours," I say and ruffle his hair, but I am laughing, too. After a good laugh, his face falls back to a melancholy state. "What is it?" When he doesn't respond, I prompt him further, "I know there's something you aren't telling me."

"Come on, there's something you need to see."


	27. Sarah Jane, Part One

"Access visual record of all previous TARDIS inhabitants," the Doctor said and images began to materialize on the screen. I ran my fingers through my hair absentmindedly as he introduced them to me. "That's Ian and barbara, and that there's Sarah Jane sneaking into the TARDIS..." he smiled nostalgically, but it fell as soon as a white-robed figure appeared, a face like a child's pastel drawing.

"Who's that?" I pull a face. It certainly didn't look like his usual companion, which was usually a young woman like myself. "Doesn't seem your type."

"That's because he's not," the Doctor replies as he bolts up, "it's the Trickster." Suddenly, he burst off toward the library. I recalled the first time the Doctor and I met, something that happened only because of the Trickster, but I wasn't about to be thankful for him, because the Trickster also separated me from my family.

Before long, the Doctor returns with a book that looks like a manual, runs to the door, and chucks it out into a supernova. Who needs trash bins when you've got supernovas?

"But what's the Trickster doing with Sarah Jane?" I ask as he comes back to the console. Was he messing with her history, too? Her family?

"Don't know, but it can't be good," he says, "now, if I set the TARDIS to lock onto the time trace, residual artron energy with echoes of sonic technology..." He pulled the screen down to show the image of a boy only a few years younger than myself.

"Who's that?" I ask.

"That's Luke Smith. Brilliant boy, absolutely brilliant!" the control room shook again and the image disappeared in a spray of static. "No no no!" the Doctor exclaimed, "turn that knob there, will you? Clockwise- hurry!"

I lunge forward and begin to spin the knob as fast as I can. He never told me to stop, so I kept going until I was thrown from my feet. "What's wrong?!"

"Something's blocking us from landing," the Doctor shouted once he had gathered his footing. "We've got a wedding to go to."

"If that's supposed to be a proposal-" my voice catches, "you're going to have to do better than that, Doctor."

He gets a laugh out of it, "no, not ours. An old friend of mine." On the screen is an image of Sarah Jane- older, now- in a white dress.

"We're going to crash her wedding?"

"Allonsy!" he exclaims, running for the door. I run after him as he flung through the doors and down the hall. "STOP THIS WEDDING NOW!"

A chorus of "What?" "What's going on?" and "Who are they?" erupted among the guests as we ran in. Sarah Jane gasped and her robot dog said "Master!" in quite the energetic manner.

"I said stop this wedding," the Doctor said in a low voice as I stood beside him. At that moment, a great wind blew into the room, pulling hair and snatching hats off of people's heads.

"Alert! Alert!" the robot dog said as it spun awkwardly, "Danger, Mistress!"

"Sarah, get away from him!" the Doctor shouts, but her fiancé grabs her arm. A white figure materialized through the cyclonic storm- the Trickster.

"Let her go!" I shout and sprint towards them.

"You're too late, Time Lord," the Trickster cackles.

"NO!" the Doctor shouts as a ripple rushes through the room. Suddenly, we are alone. Sarah, her fiancé Peter, and me.

"What happened?" Sarah asks, looking at me, "who're you?"

I let go of her and take a step back, "you can call me Jess. I'm the Doctor's companion- no, hold on, he's my companion. Anyway, the Trickster's interfered with your timeline." I turn around and scan the room, "and he's done something. Trapped us somewhere."

"But we haven't moved," Peter said, "what is this nonsense?"

"We're in the same place as before," I say and turn back to them, "just a different time." I turn away and begin to call the Doctor's name to see if he could hear me, but there was no response. I turn to Sarah, "You were the Doctor's companion. That means you're clever. Go on, figure it out."

Sarah Jane removes her engagement ring, "this ring has been influencing my emotions," she concludes, "it's all part of his plan. Everything."

"No," Peter protests, "the angel said that the ring would only ensure that everything worked out. You want to marry me, you weren't forced to agree to it. Please, I love you."

"Why you? Why Sarah Jane?" I say, approaching Peter. "Why did the Trickster go after you?"

"The angel saved my life," he said, "came to me after I fell down some stairs. Said he's give me the life and love that I never had."

"TRICKSTER!" I shout into thin air, "get your astral ass down here!" The white "angel" materialized before me, the absence of eyes on its face daunting. "Three questions: What have you done to us? Where is the Doctor? And why me?"

"You and your friends will be returned to the real universe when she says "I do". The Doctor is merely trapped in a different second from you, he is in the same place, just a different time. As for your third question, you made physical contact with Sarah Jane, which is why you were isolated with them instead of with the others."

"No," I say in a low voice, "why me?"

"I don't know wha-"

"Why do I exist?" I clarify, "the Trickster brigade messed with my timeline and I got stuck outside of it. Why?"

"That was not our doing," he replied.

"Then who?"

"Listen to the whispers," he said and began to disappear.

"Hey! I'm talking to you!" I say and chuck a vase at him, but he is gone. The porcelain shatters on the floor. "TRICKSTER!" I run to the lobby to see if I can get in the TARDIS and somehow pilot it out of here, but it's not here, not completely. It's half here and half in another time. "No," I say, placing my hand where the side panel would be. It whirs in and out of focus and for a moment I think it is solid, but then it is gone and I am left with nothing but silence.

"Please," I whisper and close my eyes. I feel the wood beneath my palms and my eyes dart open when it moves. The Doctor is standing there in the doorway, brilliant as ever. I wrap my arms around him and he does the same. "Thank you."

"Come on," he says, takes my hand, and we run.

"Sarah," he says ruefully, "You know how the Trickster works. You know how he operates; how he can be defeated." He looks past her and at Peter, "you're a good man, Peter, and i'm so sorry."

"You're right," Sarah says sadly, "you're only living a half-life."

"He is too weak, he won't do it," the Trickster says and I have to hold myself back from interfering. Something is unfolding.

"No," Peter argues, "Sarah's love has strengthened me. I was right, Sarah, we are the perfect match. That ring has nothing to do with our love, because it's the purest and truest thing there is- and i'm sorry." He turns to the Trickster and throws his ring into him, who bursts into flames, screaming in agony. I watch as Peter disappears and Sarah's heart breaks.

Suddenly we are back at the moment before we arrived. Everyone is in their places, everyone but Peter. I bite my lip as Sarah turns to address the crowd, "the wedding is off." I let go of the Doctor and walk toward her, wrapping her in an embrace, hiding her face so she can weep.

"I'm so sorry," I say and she cries into my hair. "There's nothing you could do. It was his choice, and he was brave. He was brave because he loves you."

"Mum," a boy says and Sarah releases me to hug him. I step back and give them a moment.

"I'm Rani," a girl says to me, "and this is Clyde."

"Jess," I introduce, "you friends of Sarah's?"

"Yeah, you a friend of the Doctor's?"

"Yeah," I smile.

"Then I ought to tell you," Rani hesitates, "he just left."


	28. Sarah Jane, Part Two

Sitting on the step in Sarah Jane's attic, I hold my head in my hands. The Doctor left. He took the TARDIS and flew away, just like he did with Sarah Jane.

"Both of us are thinking it, Sarah," I say when I feel her presence beside me.

"He'll come back," Sarah says, placing her hand on my shoulder.

"Why? Why would he? I shouldn't even exist."

"But you do exist, and there's got to be a reason for it," she sits down next to me.

"But what? No home, no family- whatever gave me life has a sick sense of humor."

"But that's not true," she says, "you've got the Doctor."

"Do I?" challenge, looking up at her. I want her to respond, to tell me otherwise, but she doesn't. I feel something swelling inside me, about to come out from my throat, when a whirring sound echoes about the room.

"Now, then," the Doctor leans in the doorway, "you didn't think i'd just leave, did you?"

"Doctor," Sarah whispers and runs to hug him.

"But you left," I whisper, unable to comprehend the events that had occurred. He left me for days, no goodbye, no "see you soon". He probably didn't even think to. And how he's just... back. He's just come back. Just swaggered back into my life with his blue box.

"Ah, there you are!" the Doctor walks toward me, "so-"

SLAP!

"You left me for 9 days," I say coldly, "and you didn't think to let me know?"

"Right," he strokes his hand over his face, "guess I deserved that." I smile at him and he smiles back, and before I know it we are hugging.

"You're an idiot," I laugh.

"Only when it comes to you," he says.

"Lucky me," I say sarcastically.

"You could stay, you know," he says, "here, with Sarah Jane. Live a new life on Earth." That was his plan all along- why he left me behind. He wanted me to see what life could be like. He wanted to give me the choice to stay.

"Why would I want to do that when I could be with you?" I ask, dismissing the idea of leaving him as a possibility.

"Because I can never be human with you," he said, his eyes full of suffering.

"All those adventures we had, Doctor," I say, "you think i'd give up a lifetime of that?"

"Thing is, Jess, if you travel with me, I can't guarantee how long that lifetime will be. If something happens to me, i'll regenerate, but you-"

"Can you really see me living a quiet life, Doctor? After all that i've seen? All that there is to discover?" Besides, I still don't even know who I am or why I exist. I turn to Sarah, "It's been fantastic," I smile, "meeting you, Sarah. I see why he picked you."

"And you," she says, giving me a hug. "You're always welcome here, Jess."

I smile and step back into the doorway with the Doctor. "So nice meeting you all: Luke, Rani, Clyde, Sarah, K9." I smile down at the little robot dog, possibly the coolest pet ever. No, definitely the coolest pet ever.

"One thing before I go," the Doctor says and hands something to Sarah. "Sonic lipstick, might come in handy saving the Earth." he says, "Until next time!"

He leaves her staring in awe at her gift as he shuts the doors behind us. "Oi," I say, following him to the console, "when do I get one of those?"

"You've got a magic wand, you don't need a sonic."

"Wait- are you saying that wand will still work?"

"No idea," he says and places his hands on the console, "where was I? Oh, yes, companions." He turns a knob and the screen flies back to images of his companions throughout time. He continues naming them, sometimes going off on a tangent about a particular memory of his, but always finding his way back.

"Doctor," I interrupt, but he keeps rambling on, ignoring me. "Doctor!" I slam my hand on the console, demanding his attention. He looks up at me, realizing there was no point in trying to prevent the question; "Why... why do I exist?"

"Because you do. The Universe is big. It's vast and complicated and ridiculous. And sometimes— very rarely— impossible things just happen and we call them miracles. In all my years I'd never seen one, but yet here you are."

"Here I am," I smile, "traveling the stars with my Doctor."

"Will you be my companion and travel with me to infinity and beyond?"

"That's Disney," I accuse, raising a brow.

"So?" he says, eyebrows raised.

"I will," I smile.

"I do," he corrects and I laugh.

"Aren't you a clever boy."

He laughs, "aren't you a clever girl."

"The clever girl and the clever boy in the clever blue box," I purse my lips, thinking it over. "Let's run."


	29. Planet of the Dead, Part One

"Aha! Easter," the Doctor says, tipping a coin to a merchant in exchange for a chocolate bunny. "Don't usually land on Sundays. Nothing exciting happens on Sunday. Except chocolate. Love myself a bit of chocolate. Want some?" he asks, offering me his bunny.

"No thanks, i'm more of a dark chocolate person," I say, distracted by all of the police lights in the distance.

"Suit yourself," he says and bites into it. "Ah! A bus. That's what we need, a bus."

"You're just in time, mate" the driver says as the Doctor pulls out his psychic paper and swipes us onto a bus.

"Funny thing is," he continued, "I don't often do Easter. It's difficult to find it- always at a different time- although I remember the original. Between you and me, what really happened was-" all of the sudden, the Doctor's pocket began to beep. "Hold on," he said, handing the chocolate to the woman across the aisle and reaching into his pocket.

"Hello," I smile to the girl, "my name's Jess."

"Christina," she says, holding the bunny awkwardly in her hand, "I believe this is yours."

"Right, ah, sorry about that..." I say, turning back to the Doctor, "what's that beeping for?"

"Rhondium particles," he mutters and taps the gadget, "it detects them." A little dish atop it is turning, whirring faster and faster.

"Right now I could use a way out, can you detect me one of those?" Christina asks, looking over her shoulder with paranoia. There are sirens blaring, the police were following us. Her.

"Can you hear them?" a woman asks from the row behind me.

"Hear what, sweetheart?" the man next to her asks.

"The voices. So many voices." She leans toward me, "They're calling to us. Can't you hear them?" My heart begins to race as I realize I can hear voices. Probably just from people on the street outside, but something was definitely amiss.

"Hold on!" the Doctor shouts and I instinctively reach for the handle on the seat in front of me. The bus lurches and shakes, I jerk forward and flip over the seat, twisting my wrist awkwardly and rolling onto the floor.

"The voices!" she cries, "they're screaming!" The windows shatter and sparks fly from the overhead wires. There is a blinding light and I see the Doctor moving to speak to the driver. I roll to the side to avoid being elbowed in the gut by Christina, the chocolate bunny tumbling from her hands. Then, suddenly, everything stops. I clamber to my feet and help Christina up, looking around to check for damage. Everyone seems alright, aside from being tumbled around like a bunch of laundry.

"Is everyone alright?" I shout over the chaos as people recover and find their composure.

"Still in one piece," the driver says, "but the engine's definitely shot."

"I meant the passengers," I snap and turn back to addressing them, "everyone should get off the bus as soon as they can." There are still sparks and smoke is clouding the air.

"I'm not leaving!" the woman says, "they're screaming!"

"Who's screaming?" I say, approaching her.

"The voices. The voices are crying."

"What voices?" I press urgently.

"The Dead," she says gravely, "We're surrounded by the Dead."

I get a whiff of smoke and make for the exit, breathing in the fresh air and relishing in the solid ground. Well, almost solid. It's sand. "My boss is going to kill me," the driver mutters, running a hand through his grey hair.

"I think we've got bigger things to worry about, mate," I say, looking up at the sky. There are three suns. We're on a different planet. We've just driven into another world. "I think it's safe to say we've gone a bit farther than Brixton." I pull off my jacket and hang it on the side mirror of the bus. Wherever we were, we were definitely in a desert. I pull my hair up into a ponytail and head over to the Doctor, who is examining the sand. "So where are we?" I ask, placing my hands on my hips in attempt to catch a bit of wind to cool down.

"The sand, it tastes like-"

"You!" a young man from the bus marches over to us, "you had that device thing! You did this!"

"Oh, humans on busses, always blaming me. If you must know, I was tracking a hole in the fabric of reality. Call it a hobby. It wasn't a threat, until it suddenly ripped open and we drove through it." He picks up a handful of sand and tossed it into the air behind the bus, revealing a swirling vortex which soon disappears.

"So we can go back?" the driver exclaims and breaks into a run toward it, "I'm going home!"

"No! Don't-" I reached out toward him, but it was too late. The man walked straight into a wall of flames, incinerating him into a pile of bones falling through space.

"Alright, first thing's first. We've got to appoint a leader," Christina says. Naturally, the Doctor would be the leader, but this woman had different plans. "Everyone in the bus, now!" She turned to the Doctor and I, "that's you two as well."

"Yes ma'am," the Doctor complies and goes inside. I watch him go, mouth agape. He was just going to give in and do what she says? She doesn't know anything about this stuff!

"I said inside the bus," Christina repeated. I crossed my arms defiantly and walked inside. No point in staying out here under the sun. I sat down and stretched my legs out over the top of the seat in front of me, rolling my wrist to to see if I can snap it back in place. I managed to get it to click back to normal some halfway through Christina's speech which, naturally, I paid no attention to until she addressed me directly. "Oi, you. What was your name again? Jen? Jenny? Jasmine?"

"Jess," I say, lowering my legs, "and this is the Doctor."

"Hello," the Doctor waved.

"Right. Now that we all know each other, i'll turn over to the Doctor."

"I thought you were in charge," I raised a brow defiantly.

"I am, and a good leader utilizes her strengths. You and your companion seem to know more about this stuff than the rest of us, so start talking."

"Oi, she's my companion, not the other way around," the Doctor protests.

"Companionship is a two way street, tousle boy," I say sassily.

"Tousle boy?" he says, reaching to touch his hair, which was even more tousled than usual, thanks to the crash.

"Hey," Christina snaps to get our attention, "quit flirting and start explaining. What's with that portal thing? Why did it open for us? Why can't we get back?"

"Wrong place, wrong time," the Doctor shrugged.

"No," Carmen interjects, "this happened for a reason. The door opened because the voices were crying."

"She's mad."

"No," I say, "I can hear them too."

"Can you?" the Doctor moves toward me and examines my face, then Carmen's, then folds a hand behind his back. "How many fingers am I holding up?"

"Three," she says, "now, four."

"Very good! Low level psychic ability, exacerbated by an alien sun," he turns to me, "but why you?"

"Something is coming. Riding the wind- and it's shining."

"We're going to die!" Angela weeps.

"I knew it," Barclay groans, "I knew it! We're dead!"

"We can't die out here," Nathan exclaims, "we just can't!"

"Everyone SHUT IT!" I rise to my feet, commanding attention. The arguing stops and the only sound is Angela crying. "Shhhh," I coo, "where were you going, Angela? When you got on the bus, where were you headed?"

"Home, to my daughter, Suzanne, she's 18."

"Great age, 18. She's lucky," I smile, "what about you, Barclay?"

"Dunno, going round to Tina's."

"Who's Tina? Your girlfriend?" the Doctor asks.

"Not yet," he gives a small smile.

"Good boy," the Doctor grins, "what about you, Nathan?"

"Just lost my job. I was gonna go home, watch some TV."

"Brilliant, and you two?" he turns to Carmen and Lou.

"I was going to cook," Lou says.

"It's his turn, tonight," Carmen chimes.

"And you, Lady Christina?" I ask. She had referred to herself as a Lady, but I wasn't convinced. She was hiding something.

"I was going... far away."

"Right, far away, supper, TV, Suzanne, and poor old Tina," the Doctor lists.

"Hey!" Barclay protests.

"Just think of them, cuz that planet out there, all three suns and wormholes and alien sand, that planet is nothing. You hear me? Nothing compared to all those things waiting for you. Food and home and people. Hold onto that, cuz we're going to get there. I promise."

"If we're going to get out of here on this bus, we need a flat surface to drive on, so all of you need to build a track for it," I say, ripping up a seat cushion and thrusting it in Barcley's hands, "now hop to it."

The boys get to gathering seats and other flat surfaces, lining them behind the tires but not too close to the wormhole that they got incinerated. Christina didn't seem too happy about me taking charge, but she managed to cover it up well enough.

"The wheels are in too deep," Nathan says to Christina.

"Then you better start digging," she says, handing him a shovel from her bag.

"You see that, Doctor? Bigger on the inside," the Doctor turns to me and we burst out in laughter.

"Got anything else in there?" I prompt, peeking forward, but she zips it closed before I can see. I narrow my eyes, but pop them back open when she looks up at me dangerously.

"Come on then, Jess. Let's go scout out the storm."

"Hold on!" Christina stops us, "i'm not letting you two out of my sight."

"Fine then," the Doctor says, "you can come with. Jess, do you mind staying?"

"But-" I protest, but realize he is asking me to stay because he wants those people protected. "Fine."


End file.
